Silver Moon
by FangRulez
Summary: Silver, Bones, Danny, Fudge, Sonny, and Anita are six kids you've never seen before. They've seen Maximum Ride on the news, read Fang's blog. They've always kept out of the spotlight. Now they may have to get into the middle of the action.
1. Prologue

Prologue: Aren't we fabulous?

So, how's it going? Must be going pretty good if you're reading this. I mean, I might not even be writing this due to many things that I will tell you, and who knows, maybe I'm not. Maybe I just think I'm writing this and this is all a hallucination conjured up by my traumatized mind. Oh, yeah, in my world that could totally happen. But I've forgotten my manners. Let me introduce you.

You have Sonny, a ten year old kid with purple-yes, purple- eyes, pale skin, and a friendly persona. Unless of course you're at the end of one of his sucker-punches, well, then you'd better get out of the way. Oh, and he happens to have dark purple wings. There's Bones, who has red eyes, lightly tanned skin, is fifteen years old, and doesn't really do or say much of anything, and seems half asleep all the time. Unless in a fight with some Razen. Then he seems wide-awake, and deadly. With blood red wings. Fudge-twelve, who's name fits her chocolatey colored skin, and hair. Her eyes are hot pink, with light pink wings. She never stops talking, but then, isn't that why we love her? Danny who has lightning yellow eyes, and yellow wings. He's blind, and fifteen too, with yellow blonde hair.. He can be the funniest person you know, and the craziest lunatic you will ever meet. Anita who's seven and has eyes that are only a shade white darker than the whites of her eyes, with pure white wings. Her hair is white, and she can read minds. Never get in a fight with her-she'll always win. Oh, and there's me, Silver. Quite a strange name since my wings are pitch black, as are my eyes, and fifteen years old.

Why all the colors you ask? Why can't we just have normal colored eyes without the wings? Because we were made in a lab that we like to call The Institution. We were made 2% bird, 97% human, and 1% chameleon. You heard it here folks, chameleon. I now some of you have probably heard of those bird kids who got lucky with only being part bird. At least their eyes don't give them away as anything more than human. At least they don't randomly blend in with their background, going all but invisible when embarrassed or upset. (That's something we've had to work hard on at getting controlled.) You know about Erasers, the lupine-human hybrids. But you don't know about the Razen, the snake-human hybrids. Or us, the bird-human-chameleon crossovers. And you don't know what happened to us. While those bird kids have become famous, I think you need to hear our story too. Believe me, it's important. You see the bird kids part of the story, but we're something else. And we have a story. And I'll tell you about it, because this is behind the scenes, the things the bird kids don't know about, what you don't know about until now.

Jeb broke us out too, he put us in Nebraska, and left us there, me, Bones, and Danny only twelve, Anita only four, Sonny, ten, and Fudge nine. He went to take care of the bird kids we know now. The name 'bird kids' is so disregarding. I'm going to call them Max's flock. We were left alone. When he came back, only two years ago, nobody wanted to speak to him. Then he went to the School, forgetting about his job at the Institution, his job to us, and focused on Max's flock. But he had help. He had a friend named Jacob, and Jacob didn't forget about us. Of course, six months ago he left and never came back. Where is he? Heck if I know, but it hasn't been easy.

This is our story, this is something you don't know, a whole world even stranger than the one Max has showed you. I'm Silver, and my crew are something other. But still important to the twisted place you know of as the School, who works closely with The Institution. Nobody knows about us. Not you, not Max, not even some people who work at the School and The Institution. Until now.

Keep breathing,

Silver


	2. A Rude Awakening

**I've decided that this is set after _Fang: A Maximum Ride Novel._**

Chapter 1: A Rude Awakening

Don't you just hate it when you get woken up early? Try getting woken up by early by a crying seven year old. "What do you want, Anita?" I asked sleepily.

"Sil, Sil," my real name is Silver by the way, Silver Moon, "there's a-a," she started. "A _Razen_" she whispered. Well, won't that wake a person up? Knowing that somewhere nearby is a creature that has been trying to kill you for years, and you finally think you're rid of them, and they come back?

I hoped out of bed, and put on a quick pair of blue jeans, then followed Anita. I checked my watch as we were walking, and it was four AM. This had better be good. When we arrived in the living room-which had only a couch and a TV-I found that I was the last awake. I'm the freakin' leader, and yet I'm the last one notified of the crazy happenings."What's up?" I asked, now wide awake.

"Danny sensed some _Razen _coming about ten minutes ago. He last said that they were about ten minutes away. That was ten minutes ago, so they might be here soon." Bones said, bringing me up to date.

I looked at Danny. He stiffened. "Guys," he started. "They're-" but then the door burst open, flying off it's hinges. We barely had a door, did they _have _to knock it in? I mean come _on. _But I had no time to dwell on the sad mess of splinters that was now our door because a Razen came at me.

Now, Razen are part human, part snake. They have scales for skin, and fangs with poison in them for teeth. They were green, and were able to speak to snakes. I'll tell you now, they are not people-or things-to mess with. Unless of course they mess with you first.

The Razen tried to hit me in the stomach, but I dodged, only to get a punch in the face. That got me mad, you know? I mean all I want to do is sleep and these things come barging into my house! I roundhouse kicked my attacker in the face, but he grabbed my foot, and spun me around. Did I mention they were really good fighters? Yeah, it has something to do with the fluidity of the snake and things like that. I'm no scientist, so I'm not sure, all I know is that it makes them really hard to fight.  
I pulled my leg free, stumbling forward with the momentum, but let it bring me into a Razen that I hit in the face.

My previous captor came up behind me, and tried to punch me behind the neck-that would have knocked me out-but I was ready this time, and dodged. I mean, when you don't do something for years, and then suddenly you're expected to do it again, you're going to be a little rusty. But I was ready now, and gave those Razen a fight for their money. I even had time to take a quick glance at the others.

There had been about ten Razen, and two were out cold. Bones was in battle with two, and was gaining the upper hand fast. Danny was trying to whack his Razen with a cane. Yes, he was very good at being blind, but on occasion when we were in public, we had to keep appearances, you know? Anita was trying to compel her Razen to drown himself. She's not very good at it, but she got him choking. Fudge was shocking her Razen. Did I mention she was electric, and could start a current anywhere? Even in the poor Razen's ears. And Sonny was in a knife fight with his Razen. He, by the way, is a master knife and sword user. How? Who knows, one day he just picked up a knife, and seemed to know what he was doing.

After knocking my Razen out cold, and pushing the other out the door and down the mountain we lived on, I walked back inside to see what the aftermath looked like. Our house was a mess, the wallpapered walls had blood and scratches all over them. The couch had gotten torn in half, and there was poison everywhere, the acid in it leaving holes in the shag carpeting and eating through the coffee table. Then I looked around at the crew. Bones had a scratch on his face, and Danny had a bloody nose. Fudge looked a little tired, but otherwise unscathed. Anita and Sonny also had nothing else wrong with them but a few ruffled hairs. I had a headache, but was ok.

"Silver, what are we going to do now?" Anita said in almost a whinning tone of voice. I could tell she wanted to be brave, but that the fight had really shook her up.

"We do what we have to do. We leave." Bones said. When did he become so smart? That's exactly what I was going to say, but wasn't sure how it would go over. Let's just say not very well.

"L-leave?" Danny asked unbelieving. "This is the only place we've ever been other than The Institution. How are we supposed to survive?"

"You know those kids who've been in the paper? The ones from the School? They can do it. We're in the same boat now, and we have to go somewhere else. Now, nobody knows about us yet, so we might not have to _stay _on the move, like them, but we have to leave this place." I said.

"How'd they even find us?" Sonny asked softly.

"That's something else we have to find out. Maybe stop at a...what are they called...library! Maybe stop at a library and do some research." Bones said.

I nodded. "Guys, get backpacks together, get food, who knows when," _or if _"we'll be back." I said.

Looking uncomfortable with the inevaitable, everyone left to their rooms, and started to pack. Everyone but Bones. "Am I making the right decision?" I asked him.

"Of course. You know that we can't risk getting captured. Everyone will be bummed, but they'll be safe. Jacob hasn't been here in over six months, and we have to move on/ We can think of this as an opprotunity to make a new start, a new beginning." he answered.

"I hope you're right." I muttered, then left to my room to pack.

My room was reletivly small, with black walls and carpet. I don't know why, but everyone seems to have this connection to the color that they wear: me, black; Bones, red; Danny, yellow; Fudge, pink; Sonny, purple; Anita, white. Jacobs once told us it was because of the way the chameleon DNA found a way to connect to the brain nerves that give us favorites and choices. What exactly does that entitle, I'm not sure, but it helped-according to Jacob-my decision to paint my walls black, have black carpeting, and black sheets. But I'm not emo, or goth, or anything like that. The crew loves to mess with me about that, but in all honesty, while black is my favorite color, I do like brighter colors. One of them being silver, if that's not completely ironic.

I grabbed my backpack-black, if you haven't figured out the trend-and started to put my clothes in it. I didn't pack many clothes, knowing that we would need the most room for food since we won't have much money. The only money we've had these past six months has been from a jar that we found in the back of Jacob's office after we figured he wasn't coming back. Then Sonny walked into my room.

"Silver?" he asked tentavly.

"Yes, Sonny, what is it?" I asked, turning around to look at him.

"Um, I just...I was thinking. Why don't we just try to find those bird kids you were talking about? ...Max's flock. They know how to survive, maybe if we can meet up with them, we can learn how to survive on our own, and then leave." he said.

I shook my head. "They get so much publicity." I said. "I don't want us to be around that. Nobody knows about us, and for right now, that's how it should be. Who knows, maybe we might even try to go to school."

"School? Do you think that's really a possibility?" Sonny asked.

"Yeah, I mean with Anita's mind control we might be able to have the teachers think that we have parents and stuff." I told him. Now that I really thought about it, it was a good idea. School. We'd never been to school. Actually, it might be fun.

"Wow, Silver, that sounds awesome! I vote for school!" Sonny said.

I smiled. "Well, we'll never know if you don't finish packing." I said. Sonny smiled, nodded, and ran off to pack.

I turned to my room. I'd miss this place. It was were I hid for three days when we first left The Instituion. It was were I went after Jacob had been gone for more than two weeks, and I started to feel like I had to pick up the slack. It was were I'd first saw Max's flock on my little TV, and decided then and there, that my crew and I would never have that much publicity, I didn't like how everybody seemed to know what they were doing. It was were I'd first read Fang's blog (that's a really good blog by the way) and decided the whole crew needed to keep journals. The rules are:

Nobody can touch anyone else's journal or their whole journal will be read aloud to the whole crew

Everybody should make an entry once a week to once a day

Anita is not to look into people's minds when they're writing

And that if any of these rules are broken you have to sleep outside for a week

So far these rules have been followed, and I thought the journal idea was a good one.


	3. Las Vegas

So, we all threw some stuff in backpacks. It's safe to say that while we were trying to stay away from the crazies at the Institution we didn't take many vacations, and therefore had no reason to have bought actual luggage. Once we had packed, we put on our backpacks and headed out.

So, I think I should explain the order of authority in the crew. I am called the leader, but I think Bones is more of the leader. I only get called the leader because I come up with the plans, but Bones is the one who talks about the plans I come up with. I'm...well, I guess you could call it shy, but I wouldn't. I just don't like to talk much. No point in it half the time. So Bones is the one who says everything. I can kick butt like nobody's business, but if you ask me to make a speech, I'll freeze up. All in all, I think Bones and I are at about the same level of authority. Danny's next, because he's been through a lot more than any of us without his eyesight. No one knows how he lost it-he never talks about it. And one of the only reasons I'm not nominating him to be the top in authority is because his eyesight problem is a drawback, and I wouldn't want anyone from my crew to get hurt because I wasn't brave enough to take the position they gave me. Fudge, Sonny, and Anita are all on the same foot too. They get their say, but Bones, Danny, and I make the ultimate decisions.

Being hidden in the middle of nowhere hasn't given us a lot of chances for romance, if you know what I mean. But, I think that Sonny has a crush on Fudge, and...I...never mind. It's not important.

Anyway, we had no idea where we were going to go. We were in Nevada, somewhere close to a desert. I don't know how long we flew before Sonny's eyes lit up.

"Look, Sil! There's Las Vegas! Can we go, please?" Sonny asked. I looked over at Bones, and he instantly knew what I was thinking. Don't ask: it's just a think we can do. We can look at each other, and get the gist of what the other wants to say.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Sonny." Bones said.

"Why not? We've never gone anywhere else, and we're right above it!" Sonny argued.

"Yeah, and there's showgirls in Vegas!" Danny added.

"We don't have a place to sleep, that's our main priority at the moment." Bones said.

I hadn't even known we were above Las Vegas, but when I looked down I saw a sea of nothing but florescents, and roads with a ton of ant-like cars. It was stunning. I'd never seen anything like that. It must have been...seven o' clock in the morning and the city was already busy. Just so you know, it's about mid-December so the sun hadn't risen much yet.

"Please?" Anita asked, looking at Bones with big, wide, innocent eyes. I could literally see his resolve crack as he looked at her.

"Fine. We can look around Las Vegas, and stay the night there." he said. The softy.

"Yes!" Sonny said, pumping his fist in the air.

"Last one there's a rotten egg!" Danny shouted before quickly falling towards the city. He was followed soon after by Fudge, Sonny, and Anita. Bones and I lagged behind.

"Why do they continue to ask me what to do when we all know you make most of the decisions?" I asked Bones.

"Because everybody knows you're the brains of this operation. You're the one who's studied more geography, history, math, and science than all of us put together. You're the one who fixed the internet when it crashed, you're the one that stopped Danny from eating those poisonous berries that everyone had mistaken for blueberries. Face it, Sil, you have leadership material. All you need to do now is come out of your shell." I hated it when Bones got all...intellectual. It always made sense, and normally it made sense against me.

I sighed. "Yeah, but what if I mess up? Make the wrong decision at the wrong time?"

"Then we'll all help you get us out of the mess you got us into. You know that. Why are you doubting yourself now?" Bones said.

"Because, back home we were in familiar territory. I knew everything about our surrounds and what should be where, the difference between what looks right, and what shouldn't be there. Now, I'm completely out of my element, and to top it all off, I have five other people who depend on my decisions." I answered.

"Well, how about this: you do your best to lead us, and I'll do my best to make sure you don't mess up?" Bones asked, smiling.

I smiled back. "Ok. It's a deal." And with that we caught up to the rest of the crew, who had landed in a shadowed alley.

"So, we need to find a place to stay..." I said looking around after we landed.

"Wait." Sonny said. "What are we going to do about our eyes? Red, black, yellow, purple, pink, and white aren't exactly regular eye colors."

"This is Vegas Home of the strange and flashy. Most people will probably think they're color contacts." Danny answered.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Sonny said, the shock he felt at the conclusion showing in his voice. Danny was always goofing around, and rarely ever answered with a straight answer, and even rarer still, a right one.

"Come on guys, let's walk around a little. Look for a place to crash." Bones said. Even though it was no later than eight o' clock or so, we had been up extremely early, and everyone was showing signs of fatigue.

Everyone agreed that sleep was a good thing, so we walked around. If there is one adjective to use when talking about Las Vegas, it is HUGE. I mean, even with the flashy lights starting to turn off, it was still freaking gigantic! There was people everywhere, and a ton of advertisements. After we had been walking for about an hour, Bones at the front, and me taking up the rear, Bones lagged behind, and fell into step with me. "How are we with money?" he asked.

"Well, we still have about a thousand dollars left from Jacob's closet." I said. When Jacob had disappeared, we dug through his things, and found a ton of money under a flap of wallpaper in his closet. We tried to use as little as possible, so we still had quiet a bit.

Bones nodded. "Then how about we just find some cheap hotel? The guys are look like they're about ready to pass out on their feet."

I glanced up at the rest of the crew (I had been looking at my feet, nothing unusual) and they did look really tired. Honestly, I was pretty tired too, so I agreed, and we booked a room at the next cheap hotel we found.

The room had two beds and a loveseat. "Ok. So, how about Fudge, Sliver, and Anita share one bed, and Bones and Danny sleep on the other. I can take the couch-thing." Sonny offered.

"First," I said "It's called a loveseat," there was a collective groan from the whole crew. They hated it when I corrected them on anything (I guess that makes some sense since I do it often). "And second, how about Sonny, Anita, and Fudge, and Bones and Danny. I'll take the _loveseat._" I said, emphasizing the correct term of the chair.

"Nope." Bones said. "Danny and Silver. Fudge, Sonny, and Anita. I get the couch-thing." and with that, he laid on the _loveseat_-not couch-thing-and refused to move, so that's how we slept.

Now people, get your heads out of the gutter. The only reason we didn't have girls in one bed, guys in the other, is because the three smallest people fit better together than to have me sleep with Anita and Fudge. I got on the right side of the bed, and Danny got on the left. Fudge, Sonny, Anita, and Danny fell asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow. But I could see Bones tossing and turning. I would have fit better, but for whatever reason he was being stubborn. So you know what? Let him wake up with a sore back!

I took out the small net book Jacob had bought each of us about a year ago. Mine was black. I had stuck it in my backpack, because our journals are computer generated. I typed up the following entry:

_Dear Diary, _

_We've moved, and I don't know if we'll ever be able to go back to our house. The Razen found us. Today has been the scariest day in years. I had thought that the Institution had forgotten about us, but apparently I was wrong. They want us back. We're more mutated than Max's flock, more freaky, and they want to brag about us to the School. They want to use us. We're never going back there as long as I'm alive. Last time I checked I was still breathing. _

_I'm even more scared for Fudge, Sonny, and Anita. They act tough, and they are, but they're also still pretty young. I was hoping that when Jeb broke us out of the Institution they could live a semi-normal life. Seems like the Institution is determined that we don't live at all. _

_What did we do to them anyway? Why did they come back? They should just leave us alone. What's scarier still, is that the Razen's reappearance has shaken everyone up. A scared crew is a crew that's waiting to get captured. Tomorrow Bones and I are going to have to work hard to build up everyone's moral again. _

_Danny snores like a truck driver...his trucks engine. Not like a regular truck driver snore, no, he sounds like the freakin' engine._

_I can see Bones watching me out of the corner of my eye. He really should get to sleep. Actually, I should too._

_Keep Breathing,_

_Silver_

I then decided to quickly check Fang's blog. Yes, I follow that, don't tell Bones, I'd never live it down. This is what I read:

_Yo. The flock and I are somewhere in west America. We're still not sure about what we're doing, but you know what? It's been a week since there's been any Flyboy attacks, so I think we're ok. _

_I'm going to take this opportunity to reply to some comments:_

_**FlyGirl#1 says: **What can I do to get some wings? You guys sound like you have some sweet adventures! I want to join!_

_**Fang says: **You must be insane. Believe me, you don't want to join._

_**SoccerSt4r says: **Dude, how do you think you'd do in soccer?_

_**Fang says: **Tried it. Hated it. _

_**SilverMoon says: **How do you do it? How do you keep up your moral? I mean, the things you guys go through is horrible. It must get depressing._

_**Fang says: **Yeah, sometimes we get down. But I like to think that at least we're all together and in one piece (well mostly) so that's got to count for something._

_This has been Fang. Peace out._

_-Fly on,_

_Fang_

Isn't it strange how just when I was feeling low, Fang's blog had the answer? Yeah, it's totally on my favorites list.

But it got me thinking. Yes, we have nowhere to stay. Yes, we're lost. But we're also all together, and none of us are hurt badly. (The crew, if you didn't catch what 'us' meant.) Maybe there's hope after all. I posted a comment:

_Thanks. That helped._

I got woken up with a pillow to the face. "Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty." Bones said. I moved the pillow off my face to find I was the last one awake.

"Did you just call Silver a beauty? Are you sure you're not the one that's blind?" Danny said. I threw the pillow at his face, but remarkably he caught it. Jerk.

"Yeah he did. And you know what? He's right." Anita said. She's so cute when she tries to stick up for me. "Hey, I'm fierce, not cute!" she said. Oh, she'd heard.

"Right. Of course." I said, laughing on the inside. All my face showed was calmness.

"Can we look around a little? I really want to see the bright lights." Fudge said. I looked out the window. We'd slept all day. It was dark now, maybe nine o' clock, and Las Vegas was lit up.

I shrugged. "She said sure." Bones said. Out of the whole crew, he was the one that could interpurt my actions the best. A shrug generally meant yes.

"Thank you, Sil!" Fudge said, her face lighting up.

"Yeah, thanks Sil. This'll be fun." Anita said, smiling.

I got up, and changed in the bathroom quickly. Black long sleeved shirt, and a black skirt that fell a little above my knees with tights underneath, if you care to know.

Everyone put on a jacket too. See, being part chameleon, we get cold easily, and therefore, we get sick easily if we don't wear a jacket all the time.

Once we stepped out of the quiet hotel, it was like another world. The streets were full of people from tourist-looking people, to people who looked like they just got out of the circus. The buildings were lit up top to bottom, everything was a whirl of color. I hated it. There were too many people, and everything was too bright. I could see Danny struggling to retain his composure. All the noise and people must really effect his overly active senses. I looked over at Bones. He nodded.

"Guys, let's find somewhere to take off for a little while!" he shouted over the noise of cars and people. We found an alley, and shot to the sky. As soon as we were away from all those people I felt a lot better, and I saw Danny's face calm.

I was able to appreceate the city more from the sky where I wasn't being crowded by people. It was really beautiful. It was like the city was a dot of color, and everywhere else was dark. Sure, the surrounding places had lights, but nothing compared to Vegas

Then it all crashed at a sound. A yell. Bones' yell.

I swung my head around to his direction quickly. He had cried out, clutched his head in his hands, and was loosing altitude. Fast. My blood ran cold, and everything stopped. All I saw was Bones plummeting to what would surely be his death. I didn't pause or think. I raced after him shouting, "Danny! Bones, southeast, fifty feet!" Danny'd know where. It was something he could just...do. He was good with direction, even if he was blind.

I caught Bones, and slowed down his pace. We were still falling-I wasn't strong enough to hold him all by myself-but he wasn't about to die anymore. "Bones! What's wrong?" I asked him, concern in my voice. I heard Sonny gasp. I rarely said anything with emotion. I could smile and laugh on occasion, but I never showed anything in my words. I didn't feel like it was necessary to announce to everyone what I was feeling. They knew that if they could tell I was worried, something was wrong. Bones suddenly became much lighter when Danny got to his other side. Without acknowledging it, we both started to find somewhere to land.

"Head...hurts." Bones managed to choke out. There were actual tears falling down his face now, and upon seeing them I felt a flare of anger. What was making Bones cry? If it was a what, I had to stop it, if it was a who, I had to kill them. That was the thought that came into my mind. It surprised me, but the surprise was quickly replaced by the anger. Bones shouldn't hurt, nothing should hurt him.

We landed on the roof of a building, in one of the darkest places we could find-not easy when all of Vegas was lit up like the fourth of July.

As soon as his feet touched the roof, bones folded in on himself, curling into a ball. I kneeled down beside him, and pushed some of his hair back from his face. The crew formed a circle around us, their backs to us, and facing outward, standing guard. They knew something wasn't right. "What happened? Do you know how this started?" I asked Bones gently. He shook his head.

Without knowing why, I wrapped my arms around Bones, and tried to comfort him by rubbing his back. I didn't know what to do. That made me feel so helpless. My best friend, the one who knew me best was hurting, and there was nothing I could do.

I don't know how long we stayed like that. It could have been, seconds, minutes, hours, I have no idea, but eventually Bones took a deep breath, and opened his eyes. I took my hands away from him, and placed them in my lap. "Better?" I asked him. He nodded again.

The crew loosened up, and turned around. Bones quickly wiped his eyes with the back of his hand as Danny asked, "Dude, what happened?"

"I don't know. I was flying fine, and then suddenly I had a killer headache." Bones answered.

"We have something to do now." I said, standing up. "We need to figure out what happened to Bones, and we need to keep it from happening again. I already said we could walk around a little bit, so we will, but come tomorrow we'll start researching." The crew nodded.

"We don't have to walk around right now, Silver." Anita said quietly. "We can go back to the hotel, and let Bones rest. We can look around some other time."

Bones stood up. "No, I'm fine. We can walk around." he said.

"Yey!" Anita said happily.

Bones smiled, and picked her up before setting her on his shoulders. Anita was the lightest of all of us, and really easy to carry. Bones had been giving her rides on his shoulders ever since we left the Institution. I couldn't help but smile too. I had been _really _worried. I hadn't known how worried I'd been until the worry left. When I saw Bones falling, every mental wall had fallen. I was going to put them back up. But for tonight, I was just going to have fun with my crew.

We used a ladder on the side of the building to climb back down, and we walked. None of us were old enough for jobs, so I knew we had to be very careful with our money. It was because of this that I told Sonny no when he asked for a toy race car. Bones walked up to me-we were in a toy store-when Sonny had left to put it back. "Let him have it. They don't have any other toys." he said.

"You think? I don't want to run out of money, and have them starve instead." I said.

"You won't run out of money by buying him that one race car." Bones said.

"Oh, yeah. Let him starve, but he'll have his race car!" I said, sarcastically.

"Silver, I _promise _you, Sonny won't starve if you buy him that race car." Bones said.

"And if he does, can I kill you?" I asked. I was only partly kidding. If I didn't kill him, I would severely injure him.

"Yes." Bones said seriously. I nodded.

"Sonny?" I said, walking over to where he stood in front of a race car display.

"Yes, Silver?" he asked, turning around. He knew why I didn't want to buy the car, and he understood it, which is probably the _only _reason why he wasn't mad at me.

"Look, I talked to Bones, and we decided that you can have the race car, and if something happens because of it, I can kill him." I told Sonny. I watched as his face lit up.

"Thanks Sil!" he said happily, and threw himself at me. Normally I'm not very huggy, so when he realized what he'd done, he tensed, but I hugged him back anyway.

"No problem." I said, smiling.

Sonny picked the car up again, and ran over to where Bones stood, and started explaining to Bones why they car was so cool, and Bones listened attentively, nodding, or saying 'Mm'hm' every now and again.

I knew it wasn't fair to give Sonny a toy and not everyone else, so I found Fudge, Anita, and Danny, and told them that they could have _one _cheap toy. Fudge and Anita replied with enthusiasm while Danny concentrated more on the things he was touching so he would get something he actually wanted. Once that was done I walked over to Bones. "And what do you want?" I asked.

"Nothing. I have everything I need." he answered, and blushed when Anita came over and cleared her throat. What the heck?

"Can I have this doll?" Anita asked. In my head she said. _Don't worry about it. _In response to my 'What the heck?' thought.

_Okay... _I thought, before saying, "Sure."

"Yes!" she said happily, and left to show Fudge.

"What was that about?" I asked Bones, referring to the blush.

"Nothing. I mean, Anita just caught me thinking about Las Vegas showgirls. No-wait, that didn't come out right She-I-oh, never mind." Bones said.

"Ok, whatever you say, Bones." I said. That didn't make any sense. Showgirls were the kind of thing Danny would think about. Not Bones. But, I let the subject drop anyway, though we both knew I didn't believe him for a second. "Let's go pay." Bones said, changing the subject, and making sure it stayed off him. Smart move, I must say.

In the end, Sonny got his race car, Anita her doll, Fudge a tiara, and Danny a fuzzy ball. He said he liked how it felt. I really have no idea what he means. My only guess is that with his heightened senses, the ball felt different to him than it did everyone else.

After about another half hour of walking-we'd been in that toy store _forever _thought I guess it's to be expected since that was the first time we'd ever been in a toy store-Anita yawned. "I'm tired." she said from atop Bones' shoulders.

"Tired? You're not the one walking!" Bones said, jokingly.

Anita laughed. "So? I still have the right to be sleepy."

"True, dat." Bones said, and held his fist up for a knuckle touch-or whatever you call it.

"Who else is tired?" I asked. Everyone's hand went up. It was almost morning. I couldn't believe how many places stayed open all night. "Then let's go back to the hotel." I said. We collectively turned, and started walking back towards the hotel.

When we got into the room, I ran towards the loveseat, and laid down on it. "HA!" I said when Bones stepped into the room. "I sleep here. You sleep with Danny."

"I could push you off." Bones said.

"I'd like to see you try." I said, narrowing my eyes.

"Fine. But if you wake up on the floor, I didn't do it." he said, before he got in to he and Danny's shared bed. Everyone fell asleep soon after, but I opened my laptop again. What? It was my rule, I should follow it. I made the following entry:

_Dear Diary, _

_Today something happened to Bones. I don't know what, and I don't know why, and that scares me more than I'd like to admit. Bones is the only thing keeping me from locking myself in a closet, and not coming out sometimes. The leadership thing is hard, you know? I just don't know what I'd do without Bones sometimes, and I don't even want to think about it. What it I hadn't caught him? What if he had fallen to the earth? I don't think I could've bared it. Sure, I'd stay leader because of the kids, but it wouldn't have been the same. Bones can't die. He **can't**. I wont let him._

_He also talked me into getting the toys for the kids. That made them really happy. Even Danny got something. I want to try to get them into school. Next week-I read it in a paper-school starts again, and the Christmas holidays end. I want to see if I can get us enrolled by then. It'd be fun, right? Going to school would be a new experience. Christmas is in two days. Before we went to sleep, I gave everyone ten dollars for presents and/or supplies to make presents. Tomorrow we'll go out and buy some stuff. I want to have as real a Christmas as possible. This will be our first Christmas without Jacob. Last Christmas he helped us cut down our own tree and-crap, I'm getting tears on my keyboard. Double crap, I think Bones just woke up._

_Keep breathing,_

_Silver_

I quickly closed my computer, and tried to pretend I was asleep. I must be a really bad actor though, because soon Bones was kneeling right by my head. "What's wrong?" he whispered.

"Nothing." I whispered back, not wanting to wake anybody up. He nodded towards the door, and walked out. I sighed, and followed him.

"Now, why were you crying?" he asked in a normal voice. The crew couldn't hear us now.

"I wasn't crying." I said, wiping my eyes in an attempt to erase all evidence.

"Yes you were. Why?" He asked again, in a softer tone.

"I was just remembering that Christmas was in two days, and that this'll be our first one without Jacob, and that last year we all went out to pick a tree, and now this year he could be d-d-dead for all we know." I said. I was crying again by the end of my sentence. Bones wrapped his arms around me. It was...different. He'd never done that before, but I couldn't help hugging him back, and crying into his shoulder for a couple of minutes.

When I stopped crying, he pulled back a little-though not letting go of me-and looked at me. "You probably think I'm weak for crying. Especially since it's been so long." I said.

"No. Never. I'd never think that you showing any kind of emotion was weak. You're human." he said. Then he added, "Unless you're and android, and are about to say 'Take me to your leader'." he said.

I laughed, "No, I'm not an android."

"Good, because I couldn't do this to an android." and without any warning, he leaned in and kissed me.

_Oh, my freaking gosh, Bones just kissed me! _I thought. Then I kissed him back. _Holy crap! I'm kissing Bones! _Was my next thought. I'd never given much consideration as having Bones be more than a friend. Kissing him felt...right. But at the same time I felt more emotionally exposed than I ever had in my entire life, and that scared the crap out of me. I quickly stumbled back.

"I-I-I oh, my god." I said as I bumped into the wall, and slid down it.

"What? What was wrong?" Bones asked.

"Nothing. Everything. I don't know. I can't tell you. I'm confused." I said.

"Well, aren't you just a bundle of contradictions." he said. I could tell he was highly amused by my reaction. "How about this? I'll leave you this," he kissed me on the cheek "to think about, and get back to me when you're less...confused." and then he went back inside the room, leaving me sitting in the hotels hallway.

But just...dammit, I don't know. I'd be lying if I said I didn't like kissing Bones, but it'd be another lie if I said I was comfortable kissing Bones. Which doesn't make a lot of sense, I know. It's just that I've known Bones my whole life, and he'd never shown one ounce of interest in me. And when I was kissing him, I felt...so exposed. Like he could see all my feelings, like he'd gotten past every wall I'd so carefully put up. That was so scary. I didn't know whether to ignore what happened tonight, or to confront him about it later. I fell asleep in the hallway like that.

**AN: Ok, seriously, I really want reviews. I think this is one of my best chapters, and definitely the longest, but I want to know what y'all think!**


	4. Boys

I woke up back on the loveseat. I don't know who, but someone must have carried me back in. I'll have to figure out who, and thank them later. I looked around. For the first time in a couple of days, I was he first one awake. Danny, Bones, Fudge, Anita, and Sonny were all still asleep. I smiled. This would be fun. I stood up, and hit Bones in the face with a pillow. While he was still trying to figure out what had happened, and get his bareings, I pulled the covers off of Danny, and said, "Rise and shine Sleeping Creep!"

"Ahh!" Danny groaned at the sudden light (he'd had the covers over his face.)

Anita and Fudge slowly woke up due to Bones, and Danny's string of curses. "Silver, what the hell?" Bones said, sitting up, and throwing the pillow back at me. I caught it before it could hit my face.

I shrugged. "Hey, you don't hit me and expect me not to do anything about it." I said.

"Good one, Sil." Fudge said groggily.

"Well, why'd you wake me up so harshly?" Danny asked, a sleepy eyebrow raised.

"Because yesterday you all but called me ugly." I replied.

"Yeah, well, sleep with one eye opened tonight." Danny threatened before throwing the cover back over his head.

"Oh, I think it'll be worth it. But seriously, it's time to wake up." I said, clapping loudly.

"I'm up!" Danny said, getting out of bed. "There, happy?"

"Quite." I said. Then I turned to Anita. "Come on, let's go get you presentable." I told her since her hair was a bird's nest, and her clothes were all wrinkled.

"Ok." she said, hopping out of the bed, and going to the bathroom, me behind her. "Silver?" she said once we had closed the door and I started combing her hair.

"Yeah?" I answered.

"Danny was the one who brought you in. Bones had woken him up in the middle of the night to tell him about what happened with you out in the hall, and then went to sleep. Danny noticed you'd been out for a while, so when he went to go check on you, he found you asleep, and brought you inside." she said.

"How do you know?" I asked.

She tapped the side of her head. "Mind reader, remember?"

"Of course." I said.

"By the way, I think Danny likes you too." Anita said.

I shook my head, "You're crazy. I think Bones was sleep walking last night, and didn't know who he was kissing."

Anita sighed. "Think what you want, Silver, but remember, I'm the mind reader in the family." and she left it at that.

Fifteen minutes later, we both excited the bathroom, our hair tangle-free, and dressed. "What took you so long? Trying to grow a mustache?" Danny teased when we got out. "I think you succeded."

"What took you so long to wake up? Trying to grow a brain?" I countered. "I think you need to work a little harder."

"Burn." Bones said, laughing.

"Oh? See if this is funny!" Danny said. He whispered something in Bones ear that wince, and Anita say, "Dan, that wasn't nice."

"What did he say?" I asked.

"Nothing. He said nothing." Bones said softly.

"Ok, fine, dude, I'm sorry, I know that was low." Danny said.

Bones nodded. "You could say that."

What? What did he say? I wanted to know really bad but carefully held the I-don't-care look I had on my face. "You guys are so weird." I said before I started to help Fudge fix her untameable hair.

When that was done, everyone sat down somewhere. It was Wednesday. Wednesday's were when we held a meeting and everyone's questions and concerns were answered. "How many of you guys have made at least one journal entry this week?" I asked. Only Fudge and Anita raised their hands. "Guys!" I said looking at Bones and Danny. "What've you been doing in your free time?"

"In my free time I've been getting chased by Razen, and making sure Bones doesn't become a pancake." Danny answered.

I sighed, "Ok, fine, I'll let you guys off the hook for now."

"Second note of buisness." Bones said. "Tomorrow is Christmas. Presents for everyone should not exceed the ten dollar limit. If you must buy something that happens to cost more, you'll have to come up with the money." Fudge raised her hand. "Yes?"

"So can I use the birthday money Jacob gave me too?" she asked.

"Yes, you can use any money you want except for the survival money that's in Silver's backpack." Bones said.

"Third note: After Christmas, we're going to see if we can apply for school. Anita, we'll need a lot of your help with that." I said.

"No problem." Anita answered.

"Seriously? We're going to get to go to school? In a real building with other kids and everything?" Sonny asked excitedly.

"No." Danny groaned. "More waking up early."

"Yes, Sonny, seriously. And Danny, get over it. Maybe you'll learn something useful." I said.

"Useful my ass! I don't see why we have to go to school. School involves waking up early, and then we learn things that we don't really need to know. I mean, who cares about when Washington crossed the Delaware?" Danny argued.

"First: Washington crossed the Delaware in 1776. Second: Just go! Maybe you'll meet a girl and stop sleeping in so late." I said.

"Danny meet a girl? I don't think 'Is it hot in here, or is it just you?' is a good enough pick up line if Danny wants to get a girlfriend." Bones said.

"Hey, that line totally worked on the bag girl at the grocery store." Danny said.

"Yeah, until you followed up with 'Are you from Tenessee? 'Cause you're the only ten I see.'." Bones added.

"You know what? Let's go to school. I'll show you Bones." Danny said.

Bones and I shared a look. I knew what he'd been doing the whole time. Sometimes Danny's mind was to easy to change.

"Any questions?" Bones asked. Everyone shook their head. "Good."

"Now, we're going to go to the mall to look for presents. We're going to go in pairs. Does anyone have someone particular they want to go with?" I said.

"I think the pairings should be Silver and Danny, Bones and Sonny, and me and Fudge." Anita suggested.

"Does anyone have a problem with that setup?" I asked the crew.

"Nope."

"No."

"Fine by me."

"I guess."

"Sure."

"Good, then let's go. The mall is five miles away, and we're going to walk it." I announced.

"W-walk?" Sonny asked in disbelief. "Why can't we fly?"

"Because it's the middle of the day and there will be no dark places to land." Bones said as I started to walk to the door.

"Ok, that makes sense at least." Sonny said. I knew what he meant though. The streets would be crowded, and I would have prefered to fly as well. But no, we were in Vagas where no matter how strange things can get, we would still stand out if we suddenly took off into the sky.

It took us about two hours to get to the mall, but only because we took the backroads where the roads were shorter, and there were a lot less people. Let me tell you something about a Vagas mall: it's freaking HUGE. I mean, really, how many stores can you put in one place?

"Ok, guys, meet back in the front of the building in two hours. If you still haven't found what your looking for, we'll talk about it when we're all in one place. Deal?" Bones said. Everyone agreed, and we split up. To say I was uncomfortable with not knowing where everything was is an understatement. I was so preoccupied with trying to calculate the chances of someone getting lost or hurt, or kidnapped, or taken by Razen that I didn't realize Danny had been trying to talk to me for some time now.

"What?" I said, snapping back into reality.

"I said, can we stop at the toy store first so I can find something for Sonny and Anita?" Danny asked

"Yeah, sure." I said absently. We started to walk.

"Something wrong, Silver?" Danny asked, concern in his voice. See, I hate that. I hate it when I'm the source of concern or worry or fear. I'd rather just stay on the sidelines and get by on my own. Without worrying anyone, or being a burden to anyone, or just bothering anyone in general.

"It's just...I can't tell where everyone is. What if Sonny is lost right now? Or Bones has another killer headache? Or Anita tries to mind control someone she shouldn't. You know she likes playing with that power." I said.

"Sonny would find a map. Bones was never one to freak out over anything. And Anita will be Anita. Sil, you can't control fate." Danny said.

"Well I can try." I muttered. Danny only chuckled.

We were in the back of the toy store when it happened. I mean, what was up with all the bad/strange/completely crazy things happening lately? We had a normal life in the middle of nowhere. Or, at least as normal as possible. Now all of a sudden the Institution wanted us back, and this was happening. Well, I guess I should say what happened, shouldn't I?

So, like I said, we were in the back of the toy store. I was looking at barbie dolls because even though Anita was a tough little seven year old, she was still, well, seven. Danny was across the aile from me looking at barbie cars. We'd combined our ten dollars, and the money we had gotten on our last birthday and decided to buy presents that complemented each other. Then out of nowhere, Danny clutches his head in his hands, and falls to his knees. What the hell?

"Danny? Danny, what's wrong?" I asked, worriedly-crap emotion in the voice-and kneeled down next to him. He had his eyes squeezed shut, and all he could do was tap his head. It was what had happened to Bones. Only one question: what had happened to Bones?

Without my permission, my hand started to comfortingly rub Danny's back. Even if he was the worst one at understanding me-he couldn't see my different, if minute (small), facial expressions that pretty much spoke for me-he was still a part of the crew, and very important to me. I don't know what I'd do if a member of the crew died, or disappeared, or left. I think I'd feel a little crooked, a little not right. I've been with the crew my whole life, and honestly wasn't sure if I could live without them. They meant more to me than I would ever be able to tell them.

We stayed like that for who knows how long. It couldn't have been more than ten minutes, but it felt like an eternity. Finally Danny opened his eyes. And his usually yellow eyes were white.

**Danny's POV:**

_Holy crap that hurt. _I opened my eyes to find Silver staring at me like I had grown an extra head. _Why is Silver looking at me funny?_. "What is it?" I asked.

"Your eyes are white." she whispered.

"How is that possi-" I stopped I was going to say, "How is that possible?" but I had a thought.

_Fang is being such an idiot. We totally should have gone west, but no, he wanted to go east, and the flock agreed with him because we pass Las Vagas if we go east._

The scary part? It totally wasn't my thought.

"What? Something wrong, other than the obvious?" Silver asked me.

"I had a thought. But it wasn't mine." I answered.

"What do you mean? Like Anita reads minds? Whose mind did you read?" she asked.

"That's just it. I can't read any other mind, but I can hear that one, and I don't know whose it is." I said.

"Well, what did it say?" Silver asked.

"It said: Fang is being such an idiot. We totally should have gone west, but no, he wanted to go east, and the flock agreed with him because we pass Las Vagas if we go east." I answered.

"Fang? Isn't Fang one of the members of Max's flock? You know, the one with the cool blog?" Silver said.

"Cool blog? Are you telling me you've been on it?" I asked, smirking.

"No! Why would I go on it? Never seen it. I just _hear _it's cool, but I've never been _on _it." Silver quickly corrected herself. Liar. Anyway:

"Yeah, I think that's who it is. But does that mean the mind is someone from the flock?" I asked.

"Possibly. Try to concentrate on it again, see if you can hear more." I nodded and concentrated. I heard nothing.

"I can't pick up anything else." I said.

"You know what else? Your eyes are yellow again." Silver said, complete and utter confusion in her voice. It took a lot of emotion for an emotion to show in her voice. She must be seriously freaked out.

"How...odd." I said.

"Completely." Silver agreed.

**Third Person POV with the flock:**

"Max?" Angel asked.

"What?" Max answered.

"Did you have another headache? I thought those stopped." Angel said.

"No, my heads fine." Max said, confusion obvious on her features. By now the whole flock was paying attention to Angel's strange question. "Why?" Max added.

"Well, I heard you thinking 'Holy crap, that hurt. Why is Silver looking at me funny?'. Who's Silver?" Angel said.

"Silver? I don't know a Silver. You know all the people I know, and neither of us know a Silver." Max said.

"Yeah, I heard that, and 'Fang is being such an idiot. We totally should have gone west, but no, he wanted to go east, and the flock agreed with him because we pass Las Vagas if we go east.'." Angel said.

Max blushed a little. "Ok, that was my thought, but the other one wasn't."

"That's the weird part, I heard them both almost at the exact same time. They almost lapped over each other." Angel said.

"You mean like when you listen to more than one person at a time?" Gazzy asked.

"Yeah, only I was focusing on Max only." Angel answered.

"So your saying Max has two minds? Do you think you could have been hearing the voice?" Fang asked.

"No, the voice sounds different, and I don't think he'd think: Holy crap that hurt." Angel said.

"Angel, stop saying crap." Max scolded.

"That's the thought! You asked me." Angel said.

"So Max has _three _people in her mind now?" Nudge asked.

"No, I can't sense anyone else anymore." Angel said.

"Let's just see what happens, and when we land in Vagas we can figure stuff out there." Max said.

The flock nodded.

**Silver's POV:**

Danny and I finished our shopping and went to stand at the front of the building. We waited behind one of the decorative colomns under the awning in front of the entrance to the mall because it was a sunny day and we were trying to stay out of sight.

"Silver...what happened between you and Bones last night?" Danny asked out of nowhere.

"What?" I asked, completely caught off guard.

"Last night. I know something happened between you two because Bones told me, but I want to hear it from you." Danny said again.

"Why do you care?" I asked, defensively I will admit.

"I'm just wondering." Danny said casually.

"Well, if you _must _know, he kissed me." I said, blushing a little.

"What was your reaction?" Danny asked.

"It was along the lines of: Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god." I told him.

"In a good way or bad way?" Danny asked.

"In a confused way! Why. Do. You. Care?" I asked again.

"So I would know if it's ok to do this." Danny said before he kissed me. WHAT. THE. HELL? Why were Bones and Danny acting so weird lately? Danny called me as close to ugly as he could get and still live yesterday! And it was just my luck that Bones and Sonny came out of the mall just then.

"Silver? Danny?" Bones all but shouted as they walked over to us. I immediantly jumped back from Danny. "What's going on?" Bones demanded once he got closer.

"What did it _look _like?" Danny said smugly.

"It looked like you were kissing my girl!" Bones said angrily.

"Woah. Freeze. _Your _girl? I'm nobody's girl." I said angrily. They completely ignored me.

"You knew I liked her!" Bones shouted at Danny.

"And I told you last week that I liked her too!" Danny shouted back.

"Yeah, I told you I kissed her last night!"

"But you never said she liked you back, did you?" Danny pointed out.

"But since when did that give you the right to kiss her? I told you last night that she was thinking about it!" Bones said back. They were yelling at each other now.

"Since that dead guy said 'All's fair in love and war.'" Danny quoted.

"You _asshole._" Bones growled angrily.

"You _bastard._" Danny said angrily back. Then they both flew off in different directions. Remember how I said that it was a sunny day and that was why we hadn't flown? Well those two jerks didn't. All of a sudden there were camera flashes and exclaims of "They're flying!"

"They have wings!"

"They look like the kids from the paper!"

"No! They're different!" to break out all around us. Then people turned their attention to us. Anita and Fudge had come out in the middle of the fighting. There was a moment of silence before:

"Do you have wings?"

"Can you fly?"

"Can you hook me up with the hot one?" (where'd that even come from? Bones and Danny just flew and someone was concerned about how hot they were-not that I thought they were. Shows you people's priorities, doesn't it?) broke out and people started converging around us.

"Silver?" Sonny said, a bit of fear coming into his voice. "Can we do a _whoo _now?" he asked. _Whoo _was our code word for 'fly away quickly'.

I nodded. "Definately." and we fly up into the air.

We flew back to the hotel. Unsurprisingly, neither Bones nor Danny was there.

"Silver, where did Bones and Danny go?" Anita asked.

"I don't know." I admitted.

"When will they be back?" Sonny asked.

"I don't know."

"Will they come back?" Fudge asked.

"I don't know."

"Wh-" Anita started, but I interreupted her.

"I don't know!" I shouted. Then in an inside voice I said, "I don't know. Just...go do something. I need to think." I said. Sonny, Anita, and Fudge nodded-looking at me worriedly I might add-and went to play a game of gold fish. In realitly, thinking was the absolute _last _thing I wanted to do. I turned on my laptop and looked at Fang's blog. It said:

_Yo. Max is officially insane. Don't tell her I said so though. Angel felt more than one mind in her mind earlier today. And it wasn't the usual voice. If you know anything about this, I would appreciate you letting me know. _

_-Fly on,_

_Fang_

_Comments:_

_Ride2daMax says: You jerk! I'm not insane!_

_Sk8terG!rl says: Lol_

_Jaceshadowhunter says: Dude, I saw a pic of her in the newzpaper. She's hawt._

_SilverMoon says: I might know something. Contact me __silvermoon# _

That's right. I think Max's head was the one Danny could hear earlier today. (Isn't it ironic that a group of flying kids use flymail? Hilarious.)

The crew hit the sack at about midnight. I stayed up. Even though Danny and Bones were being complete assholes, they were still part of my crew (I think) and I was still responsible for what happened to them. Ok, so maybe I was a little worried too. But don't tell them. They're still jerks.

It was 12:30 when Bones came into the room. As soon as I saw him I walked up to him and slapped him. Hard. Hard enough for his head to snap sideways.

"You idiot!" I hissed. I would rather have yelled but Sonny, Anita, and Fudge were asleep. "One: I'm _not your _girl. I'm _nobody's _girl. Second: you exposed us all! When you flew away did you think no one would notice? It was a really sunny day in case you forgot! They got pictures! Now the Institution will know exactly where to send the Razen!" and just because I was on a roll I slapped him again.

"You're right." Bones said. "I'm sorry. I overreacted."

"You bet your ass you overreacted! And another thing: I don't know what's going on with you and Danny but let's get something straight: you are not to take out your bad mood on _any _of the younger kids at _any _time or I will personally kick your ass." Normally I wouldn't say so much or cuss so much, but I was _pissed off._

"Ok." Bones said, holding his hands in surrender.

"Pick one: the loveseat or the bed with Sonny. I'm splitting up you and Danny, and I don't want to deal with either of you so I'm going to sleep with Fudge and Anita." I told him.

"Loveseat." he said, before walking over to it, and going to sleep.

It wasn't until 1:00 that Danny decided to grace me with his presence. I punched him in the jaw instead of slapping him. "You dumbass! Do you know what you did? You exposed _everybody _when you flew off! Then you were being an asshole when you kissed me and knew Bones would be upset! And then you _both _were assholes for kissing me in the first place. This mess shouldn't exsist! I hate both of you as of right now, so get your act together, Danny, or I will kick your ass."

"Ok, I'm sorry." Danny said.

"You'd better be. Now, go sleep with Sonny." I said before I got in bed next to Fudge and angrily went to sleep not even bothering to check my email or write up a journal entry.

**AN: Please tell me what you think! I was going to make this story only in Silver's POV but I think that Danny and the flock's POV's were important in this chapter. And I'm not really sure with the outcome of the love triangle going on. Should I have Silver choose Bones or Danny? Neither? Please review and tell me. Oh, and one more thing: I decided this is after the 5th book _Max _not the 6th book _Fang. _Sorry for the confusion. **


	5. The Flock

I realized when I woke up that we never even researched Bones' headache like we were supposed to yesterday. Bones and Danny messed up everyone's good mood. Assholes. Anyway, today was Christmas, and I was woken by Anita jumping on top of me. I had forgotten it was Christmas, and sat up quickly. Quick enough that my head hit Anita's.

"Ouch! Silver, what are you doing?" she asked.

"What am _I _doing? What are _you _doing? Why are you jumping on me? Did something happen?" I asked her back.

She smiled, "No, nothing happened, but it's Christmas!"

"Christmas. Right. I had forgotten." I said, sitting up and looking around. Everyone was awake except for Bones and Danny.

"We thought they should sleep longer since they got in late last night." Anita explained, catching my gaze.

"No way. They were total jerks yesterday. They didn't have to come in late, they chose to, and now they have to live with that decision." I said, getting up and walking over to Bones. I pushed him off the loveseat, then walked over to Danny and pushed him off the bed. Both of them landed with loud _thumps _on the ground.

"What-" Danny started.

"The-" Bones said.

"Hell?" Danny finished.  
"Time to wake up guys. It's Christmas." I said casually and walked into the restroom. "Anita your head please." I said. Anita walked to me and I started to brush her hair.

_You know, they really do feel sorry for the way they acted yesterday. _She thought to me.

_Yeah, well I don't give a damn. They were completely out of line yesterday. _I thought back

_Silver calm down. _

_I wont calm down._

_Your just mad because you like Bones more and don't want to hurt Danny. _Anita thought smugly.

_You stay out of my head. _Was all I replied with.

The truth was I didn't know how I felt about either boy. I didn't even want to think about it. I just wanted things to go back to the way they were before Danny and Bones got high on testosterone. But I knew that after yesterday things were going to change.

When I finished with Anita's hair, I helped Fudge with hers. After we all gathered on the floor of the room and I said "Ok, so who wants to go first?"

"I do!" Sonny said excitedly. He took a plastic bag out from behind him. Inside the plastic bag were small, gift wrapped presents. He passed them out to everybody.

"Thanks Sonny." was said all around.

I looked down at my present. It was wrapped in...bubble gum wrappers. Sonny loved bubble gum. I never knew he had chewed enough to wrap presents in the papers. It looked totally awesome. I was careful not to mess it up too much when I opened my present because I wanted to save the paper. Inside was a small cardboard box, and inside that was a small metal ring. It was the kind of ring you would find inside supermarkets for fifty cents. But it was really cool because Sonny had gotten a knife and carved the word _Silver _on it.

"Do you like it?" Sonny asked me. I had been admiring the ring, and hadn't realized that everyone else had gotten the same thing and said that they liked it or "Thanks" or "That's really cool!" I was the only one who hadn't said anything.

"I love it." I said smiling, and put the ring on my right ring finger. Sonny smiled back.

"My turn!" Anita said. She dug under the bed and came out with five round wrapped objects. She passed them out.

My present was spherical and wrapped in some old newspapers. When I opened it there was a silver bouncy ball inside. I'd never seen a silver ball and this was really cool.

"I tried to find them as close to you guys' color as possible." Anita explained. That's what we called the color we had on our wings and eyes. Mine was black, Anita's white, and so on. "But, Silver, I figured since your name was Silver I'd give you a silver ball."

"Thanks, Anita. It's really cool." I told her. She smiled happily.

"Ok, my turn." I announced. From behind my back I took out the presents. I passed them out. I had gotten Anita and Fudge a doll, Sonny another race car, Bones a red notebook, and Danny a yellow notebook. They were always working on various stories and I figured that a notebook would be useful to them.

Next was Bones' turn and he gave everyone a dog tag with different inscriptions. Mine had said: _I'm sorry. _Ok, so I'll admit that that was really sweet of him. I put it around my neck.

Danny had gotten Anita and Fudge a doll car that they could share for their dolls, and I got a dream catcher. I have to say that it was beautiful.

After we exchanged gifts we all went to various corners of the room to do different things. Bones and Danny went into a corner to talk. About what? I wish I knew. Anita and Fudge went and played with their new dolls, and Sonny was making his cars have a car crash. I sat on the loveseat and took out my computer. I checked my email, and I had one email from someone called: 

It read:

_Ok, SilverMoon, what do you know?_

_-Fly on,_

_Fang_

I hit reply and typed:

_I have a friend. Shortly after he had a massive brain attack (headache) he heard a thought that wasn't his. It said: Fang is being such and idiot. I wanted to go west. But he said we should go east and the flock said yes because we pass Vegas if we go east. Or something like that._

_-Keep breathing,_

_Silver_

Two minutes later:

_That was Max's thought. How did he know?_

_-Fly on, _

_Fang_

I replied:

_I don't know. After he felt better his eyes turned white, he heard the thought, and then they turned yellow again. When they went back to their original color he couldn't hear anything else._

_-Keep breathing,_

_Silver._

_P.S. … We have wings too._

Two minutes later:

_Wings? Where are you? We're heading towards Vegas Max'll kill me, but: Is there any chance the flock could meet up with you guys and talk to your friend?_

_-Fly on, Fang_

Reply:

_We're in Vegas too. Meet us in Hellafella Park. Tomorrow. 5:00._

_-Keep breathing, _

_Silver._

I know I said I didn't want to meet up with the flock, but I'm hoping they can help us figure out what's been going on. I closed my laptop and walked over to Bones and Danny who were whispering feirsly in a corner.

"But you knew."

"I guessed."

"And now Sil-" Bones broke off and looked up at me. "Yes?" he asked.

"Tomorrow we're going to Hellafella park. Max's flock may be able to help us find some answers to your headache problem. And Max's mind was the mind you could hear." I said, looking at Danny.

"Hear?" Bones asked, and Danny and I quickly filled him in on what had happened at the toy store. "So, you're saying that the flock might be able to help us figure this out?" Bones asked.

"I'm hoping." I said.

They nodded. "Five o' clock at Hellafella it is." Danny said.

"Have you guys stopped being more idiotic than usual?" I asked.

Bones and Danny looked at each other, then to me. "We're working on it." they said simultaneously.

I nodded. "Good, then I'll leave you alone." I went back to my computer to type a journal entry. I had no idea if Bones and Danny had done theirs yet, but I hoped that when I asked them later I could count on the fact that they'd be honest. I've never written journal entries so close together, but I had a lot to talk about lately. I wrote:

_Dear Diary,_

_Bones and Danny have been idiots. I wonder what brought all this up. Bones had been my friend for a long time, but Danny? Danny always made fun of me, and I have absolutely no idea where that kiss came from. I also don't know what to do about either kiss except ignore it. I mean, what else am I supposed to do? I don't want to hurt either of them, and if I pick one I hurt the other, if I pick neither I hurt both. So in the end, what's the point? I mean really, what do I have to gain by even thinking about a romantic relationship except for a headache and more things to worry about? Yeah, so not going to happen. I'm totally never going to go out with either of them. _

_But that'll change things because I'll always know how they felt about me and I wont ever return the favor. Things will be more awkward for Bones and I and I really hate that because I can talk to him almost like I talk to you. Ok, I know I'm not really talking to anyone, but play along journal. Anyway, I think that everything's got so overly complicated and I'm just hoping that tomorrow at Hellafella park we can actually get something done. Maybe we can figure things out and get as far away from Max's flock as possible. We don't need more people knowing about us and everybody knows about them. Hanging around them will only get us into more trouble. We have the opportunity to go to school and lead a fairly normal life. I'm so not going to let anyone mess that up for my crew._

_Keep breathing,_

_Silver_

**Third Person POV with the flock:**

Fang walked over to Max. They had made camp in a cave they found just outside of Las Vegas and Max was tending the fire while the rest of the flock was asleep.

"Max?" Fang said, coming up behind her.

"Yeah?" she asked, turning around to look at him.

"So tomorrow we have to go to Hellafella Park." Fang blurted out casually.

"Why?" Max asked.

"Oh, no reason. It's just that I talked to this girl who says she has wings and knows the mind that invaded yours earlier, and maybe we can figure stuff out with this girl and her friend." Fang said quickly.

"Fang, you did not." Max said, standing up threateningly.

"I did. We have to meet her and her friend in Hellafella park tomorrow at five o' clock." Fang said.

"What's her name?" Max asked.

"Her screen name was SilverMoon, and she signed every email with Silver, but I don't know if that's her real name." Fang said.

"We'll refer to her as Silver from now on." Max said.

"So then we have to meet Silver and her friend which she referred to only as D in the park tomorrow." Fang concluded.

"Why? Why did you agree to this without telling me?" Max asked.

"I'm telling you right know." Fang pointed out.

"You know what I mean." Max snapped.

"Because I knew you'd never agree to it and I think it's important to try to figure out what was going on with your head. It's not safe for someone to have access to the leaders thoughts. We need to figure out how this guy got in your head and if we can stop it from happening again." Fang said.

"You know I hate good logic." Max sighed. Fang chuckled.

"Yeah, and that's why I make it a personal goal to use it as much as possible." he said.

"So let's say we go. How do we know this girl and her friend really have wings?" Max asked.

"We don't but maybe we should take the chance." Fang said.

"What if this-this Silver is actually someone from the School just trying to get us to go exactly where they want to go?" Max asked.

Fang shrugged. "We don't." Max got a concentrating look on her face. As if she were thinking really hard about something. "The voice? What does it have to say?" Fang asked.

"It said we should go. That...that we have more in common with the Silver girl than we think. And you have way more in common with her than you could ever have imagined." Max answered.

"What the hell does that mean?" Fang asked.

Max shook her head. "I have no idea. I think maybe...maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to go."

"Now we have to explain to the flock that we're going to take them to a potentially dangerous park to meet potentially dangerous people." Fang said.

Max laughed. "I'll let you handle that one in the morning." she said before going to sleep.

Fang sighed before laying down on the hard cave floor. _SilverMoon. What an odd screen name. _Was his last thought before he fell asleep.

**Silver's POV:**

I woke up early in the morning because the sun from an open window got in my face. Looking around I saw that Bones wasn't on the loveseat, instead hearing the sound of running water in the bathroom. Thinking of Bones, I unconsciously fingered the dog tag he'd given me. _I'm sorry. _It was so sweet I wanted to hold it in my hands while jumping up and down and squealing like a little girl. But that would be so unSilverlike. I don't know why, but those two little words on a dog tag just meant the world to me. Even if, technically, I was _supposed _to still be mad at him. I wasn't, but, I think I should make him sweat over it for a while. When Bones came out of the bathroom his hair wet-god, why did that look so hot all of a sudden?-from his shower, I couldn't help but smile and say, "Morning."

"Morning." Bones said, obviously confused as to why I wasn't snapping his head off this morning like I've been doing for the past two days.

"Oh, here." I said, tossing something to him. Last night after I had made my journal entry, I asked Sonny if he had any extra silver little rings left. He said "Yeah." and that he'd bought an extra one in case he messed up on one. I asked him if I could have it and when he said "Sure." I stayed up well into the night trying to carve _You're forgiven. _On it. It was _not _easy writing those tiny letters, and it was no where near as good as anything Sonny made, but I think it got the point across when Bones looked at it and smiled at me.

I smiled back and our eyes met. You know, most people who have seen way too many scary movies would think that anyone with red eyes is some kind of spawn of Satan, but Bones just made it look so...hot. That thought surprised me, and I dropped my eyes. _What the hell? _Where were these thoughts coming from? I really needed to stop thinking about Bones like that and focus more on how I'm going to keep the crew alive considering that a thousand dollars would not last us the rest of our lives. Well, it could, but I'm hoping to live longer than one more month.

After everyone woke up, Bones and I filled them I on that afternoon's activities.

"And then tomorrow," I added, "hopefully we can try to get into a school." which was met with whoops of joy from Fudge, Anita, and Sonny, a groan from Danny, and a smile from Bones. I didn't show it, but I was _way _excited at the prospect of going to an _actual _school with _actual _kids.

So when three o' clock came, we slowly walked to the park. Me and Bones at the front of our group, Fudge and Danny at the back, with Anita and Sonny in the middle.

"So what made you decide to forgive me?" Bones asked quietly.

"That dog tag. It was a...sweet gesture." I answered. Bones glanced at me out of the side of his eye. I knew what that meant. It meant _Sweet? Since when do you call things sweet? _I only shrugged in response and we kept walking.

Once we got to the park we sat under a tree. It was about 4:30 and we still had a lot of time to kill, but I wanted to get a feel for the park and figure out what was an advantage and what was a liability in case of a fight. I highly doubted one, but after the run in with the Razen I wasn't taking any chances.

There was no one in the park, so when I saw six approaching figures, I stood up, and was followed by the rest of the crew. Bones stepped to the front, and I was behind him and slightly to the right. The rest of the crew stayed mostly behind us.

I'd seen pictures of these people in the papers, but honestly had no idea what their names were. Once they got to about three feet in front of us, they stopped. A tall blonde was at the front of the group with a dark haired, clothed...well, everything, boy slightly behind her and to the right, just like Bones and I. I wasn't so focused on the potential danger of the situation that I couldn't take the time to think _Nice style. _In reference to the dark haired boys clothing. Our two groups eyed each other warily before the blonde girl said, "So who are you?"

"I'm Bones, and this is Silver, Danny, Fudge, Sonny, and Anita." Bones said, pointing to each of us in turn. "And you are?"

"I'm Max, and this is Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel." the blonde-Max-said. "Are you the leader here?" she asked Bones.

"No." The dark haired boy-Fang-said, stepping up. "It's her." he said, pointing at me.

"What makes you think that? She hasn't said a thing." Max asked.

Fang ignored her. "You're the leader, yes?" he asked, speaking to me.

"You could say so." I answered.

"Then why is he the one speaking?" Max asked.

"Silver here is the brains of the operation. I'm the voice. She thinks of everything, makes all the decisions, I just report them." Bones answered. "She prefers not to talk much."

"Sounds like you Fang." Iggy-a tall reddish-blonde haired guy-murmmered.

"So you say you had wings?" Max asked.

Bones snapped his fingers-a prearranged signal-and all of us extended our wings. It looked really badass.

"Hey! Her wings are just like yours, Fang!" Nudge said.

"Why are they such wild colors?" Max asked.

"We are 2% bird, but we're also 1% chameleon." Bones explained. "We can do this. Silver?" Bones said, gesturing to me. I knew what he wanted me to do. He wanted me to disappear, and I was just about to tell him no, when everyone's eyes turned to me and I was gone. Or so it appeared.

"She's gone!" Gazzy said in awe.

"No I'm not." I said, moving.

"That happens when we're super embarrassed or stay extremely still. Most of the time we can control it, but when we are suddenly embarrassed without expecting it, we can't help it. Thank you Silver." Bones said. I glared at him.

"That's just like you too, Fang." Angel said.

"I wonder why though." Max said, thoughtfully.

"Maybe that's what the voice meant about me having more in common with them than I thought." Fang said.

"Not them." Max said. "Silver." she said, looking at me.

"Excuse me, but, voice?" Bones asked.

"Well, after having a few killer headaches, I had a voice in my head and it _tries _to tell me what to do." Max answered.

Bones and I shared a glance. "You mean a headache that feels as if your head will explode?" he asked.

"Just like that. How do you know?" Max asked.

"Because, it happened to me too." Bones said. He then preceded to tell her the story of what happened that scary night.

"Ok, that's weird. But we're here to find out how someone from your group got into my head." Max said.

"That was me. Sorry." Danny said.

"You stay out of my head!" Max said angrily before lunging at Danny. In a second flat Bones and I were in front of her, creating a barrier between her and Danny, and Fang was pulling her back by the shoulder.

"Max, chill!" he said calmly. It was weird, but I could totally tell that what he was really saying was "Max, cut it out! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"They can't know Fang! I can't let anyone outside of our flock in my head! Do you know how dangerous that could be?" Max said, her eyes on Danny.

"Hey, I don't want to hear your thoughts about how Fang's stupid, but still manages to be totally hot. I'd rather not have picked up on any of that." Danny said, causing a slight flush to heat Max's cheeks.

"So, what's your story?" Fang asked quietly. Bones explained to him everything that had happened to us since the attack by the Razen.

"Wow. So, a lot of things have happened in such a short time, huh?" Fang asked in his quiet voice. Translation: Man, that's quiet a story. You guys must be totally freaked out.

"Yeah. You could say so." I answered. Translation: No, you're kidding? Of course we're freaking out! We'd have to have no emotions not to be completely freaked out.

"So you're the one who contacted Fang?" Max asked me.

"Yes. I had to figure out who exactly was Danny hearing." I answered.

"See Max, and you were afraid they'd be evil whitecoats! At least we don't have to worry about that anymore. And they're so much like us, especially Fang! I mean, he and Silver even have the same wings! And what a coincidence it is that just as we're heading towards Las Vegas, they were here too!" Nudge rattled off before Iggy clapped his hand over her mouth.

"Yes, that is a coincidence." Max said. "Why is that?"

"Ok, look here." I said. I totally sick of her 'I'm better and tougher than you' demeanor. "We know about as much as you do. We're not the bad guys here. And another thing, you need to stop talking like you're oh, so much more important and smarter than us because as of right know, we're all in the same boat."

"You're wrong there. _Our _mission is to save the world." Max said.

"Well, someone's full of herself." Danny muttered.

"It's true. That's what we've been doing for like the past year." Angel said.

"What exactly are you saving the world from?" Bones asked.

"Um, ok, so we don't really know." Max answered.

"So I make my point." I finished. I could tell Max had taken me as a quiet girl that would be easy to get information out of and push around until she had whatever she needed, and was taken aback when I proved her wrong.

"So now that we're all friends here," Danny said, throwing an arm around Max's shoulders, "How about you guys stay with us for a couple of days, and we...get to know each other."

I could see Fang glaring at Danny, but was then distracted when Max suddenly punched Danny in the gut causing him to double over. "Fine, we'll bunk with you guys, but I'm not interested in getting to know _you._" she said to Danny.

"'Kay." Danny choked out. I had to work hard to hold back a laugh.

We had just turned around to walk back to the hotel room when suddenly there was this pain in my head as if someone had just hit me with a wreaking ball times a zillion. I cried out and dropped to my knees, clutching my head. I was dimly aware that Fang had fallen too, and that Bones was beside me trying to calm me by rubbing my back and saying "It's ok." over and over. He really had no idea if it was ok, but I appreciated the effort. Then I blacked out.


	6. Bones

I woke up to find Bones' worried face hovering above me. I glanced around me, then tried to quickly sit up. I didn't like being down for too long, but this proved to be a mistake since a sharp pain split through my head causing me to hiss a breath between my teeth and put a hand up to my head.

"Silver, just-just stay laying down." Bones said, using a gentle but firm hand to push me back down onto what I figured to be one of the beds in the hotel room.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Well, we don't really know. You and Fang just sort of...fell to your knees. You were saying, 'make it stop, make it stop.' over and over." Bones said. Then in a slightly more tortured voice he said, "I'm sorry, Sil, but I didn't know how to make it stop. I wish I could have. I'm sorry."

"Bones, it's not your fault. I don't even remember saying that." I answered. The hand that he'd placed on my shoulder to push me back down onto the bed was still on my shoulder. I glanced at it and when he noticed my gaze he immediately pulled his hand back.

"Sorry. Again." he said.

"Bones, it's not your fault. Again." I said, a slight smile in my voice. Then I noticed that he had put the ring I'd given him on a string and tied it around his neck like a necklace. Despite my best efforts the hint of a smile turned into a full smile. "You're wearing it." I said, picking my hand up to touch the ring.

"Well, of course." Bones said like it would be obvious, a slight flush heating his cheeks. I laughed, and sat up, much slower this time. I looked around. The only other people in the room were Fang and Max who were on the other side of the room, Fang just starting to stir and Max was 100% focused on him.

_I wonder if there's something going on between them... _I thought. I'd never gotten the full story of the flock considering the fact that I was out cold half the time, but it looked likely.

_**What if there is? **_Was the snappy thought that met mine. My eyes snapped to Fang's. Max noticed that Fang was looking somewhere behind her so she turned and looked at me. "Something wrong?" she asked.

"I-I don't know." I said in a slightly dazed voice, turning my gaze to Bones.

"What? What is it?" Bones asked.

"I heard a thought. Fang's thought." I told him.

"And I heard yours." Fang said from the other side of the room.

"So, you can hear Fang's thoughts now?" Bones asked.

"And he can hear yours." Max finished.

"But...why?" I asked.

_**Maybe it has something to do with Itex.**_

_Who?_

"Um, could you guys have that conversation out loud so that I can understand what's going on too?" Bones asked.

"Oh, sorry, Bones." I said.

"I was just telling Silver that I think this could be linked to Itex." Fang answered.

"Wh-" Bones started before I abruptly held a hand up, cutting him off.

"Where are Danny, Fudge, Sonny, and Anita?" I asked.

"They went to the park." Bones answered. "They wanted to stay but I figured you didn't really want them to see you freak out when you finally woke up."

I nodded. "Exactly. Good job Bones. Now, you were saying?"

"What's Itex?" Bones finished.

"My thoughts exactly." I said, looking over at Max and Fang.

Max and Fang told us about what had happened at the Itex headquarters, how the flock had split up, how Itex ran half the world, the by-half plan, and the clones.

"Wow." Bones said.

I nodded which roughly translated means: Holy crap. I totally agree with Bones. Wow.

"So you think they have something to do with this?" I asked.

"Do with what? There are a lot of things they could be responsible for. Could you be more specific?" Max asked, looking slightly frustrated at my refusal too use too many words.

But Fang understood and said, "Yeah, I think they are the main cause. But we'll need research." Basically that meant that Itex might have something to do with it, but we know almost nothing about their work with the mind and might have to hit a library.

"Would it kill you guys to add a little more detail?" Bones asked. He knew what I was saying, but what he couldn't understand was Fang, I could tell that by looking at him. I didn't see why though. Fang and I had such a close vocabulary.

"I said that Itex might have something to do with it, but we know almost nothing about their work with the mind and might have to hit a library." Fang explained, obviously uncomfortable with using so many words.

"We can start all the research later today." Bones said.

I nodded. "I promised my crew that I would let them go to school. That's what we're going to do today." I said as Bones helped me stand. When I had looked at my watch I noticed that it was 10:00 a.m. Meaning that I'd been out all night. "I'm ok." I said, and he let go of my elbow, which he'd used to keep me steady. My head still throbbed a little bit, but I was ok.

"See you." Bones said and the two of us walked out of the hotel room and towards the park.

After about five minutes of comfortable silence Bones said, "You had me scared, you know."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"When you fell to your knees and started crying for us to make _it _stop. I had no idea what _it _was, but I could do nothing to help you. Then you didn't say or move at all. I'd thought-I'd thought for sure that-" Bones broke off as his voice started to crack. I looked up from my shoes and at his face. Was it me, or were his eyes more moist than usual? "But, anyway," he continued after he'd cleared his throat. "You're ok."

"Yeah, I'm ok." Then the conversation stopped until about two minutes later I said, "I felt the same way, you know." staring down at my shoes.

"What do you mean?" Bones asked, repeating my earlier words.

"When you fell out of the sky that other night. It was...the scariest moment of my life. Danny and I managed to catch you, but what it we hadn't? What if-" I had to break off as the threat of tears started to show in my voice. After about a minute I continued, "But we caught you. And all I could do was sit beside you, knowing you were hurting but having no way to even begin to understand how to help."

"But you did help, Sil. Just being there with me, you helped a lot." Bones said.

I looked back up at him. I smiled. Bones smiled back and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. He had done it unconsciously, and I felt him tense up as he waited for me to start yelling at him for touching me, but I didn't. I didn't want to. If I was being at all honest, the weight of his arm around my shoulders was comfortable. And it made me feel safe, and protected. As if nothing could hurt me and I wasn't a bird/chameleon kid, but rather a regular teenager with regular problems like the fact that she might be falling in love with her best friend...you didn't read that.

But instead, all I did was lay my head on his shoulder as we walked. If only for the hour walk we had left to get to the park, I was going to enjoy this moment.

When we were about a mile from the park, Bones and I broke apart. I didn't want the crew to see us and think we were together, because honestly, I wasn't sure what we were. All I knew for certain, the only thing I've ever known for certain, is that Bones is my best friend and always will be.

As soon as Anita saw me, she was running towards me. "Sil, Sil, are you ok?" she asked, attaching herself to my leg.

"Yes, I'm fine." I said, picking her up, and holding her. She was seven, and a little old to be carried, but, I figured the girl could have one blast to the past.

Danny, Sonny, and Fudge soon followed. "Hey Silver, glad to see you're feeling better." Danny commented jokingly since he couldn't actually _see. _

I smiled, "Yeah Danny, good to hear you." I said. He chuckled.

"Do you know what happened?" Sonny asked. Am I supposed to know everything? I mean, how could I know? But wait, I'm supposed to be the leader, the one with the plan. Damn it, I've been really short on plans since the Razen thing. Oh, well. I'm gonna wing it.

"Well, we have some ideas." I said, and Bones and I filled them in on Fang and mine connection (is that even good grammar? I mean, Fang and mine? Oh well, like I said, never been to school) and on Itex and basically what had happened since I woke up. Well, I left out the walk over to the park, and Bones' ring, but everything thing else we told them.

"Whoa." Sonny said after we finished.

"You could say that again." Bones said.

"But enough of the evil scientist trying to kill us stuff. We have something to do today." I said.

Bones grinned at me, but everyone else gave me blank looks. How could they have forgotten?

"School?" I suggested.

"Oh yeah! This is going to be so much fun!" Fudge said.

"What's going to be fun?" Nudge asked walking over. I guess Max's flock was in the park too.

"Silver said we could go to school!" Anita said happily.

"I went to school once." Nudge commented.

"Really, what's it like?" Sonny asked.

"Well, we had a lot of homework. Fang got jealous over a guy who asked Max out and Max got jealous over a girl who kissed Fang. The principal was evil. I got a ton of friends. It was fun." Nudge said.

Anita, Sonny, and Fudge, if possible, got even more excited.

"Well, if you want to get signed up for next week we need to go and get signed up before the school closes. We also have to figure out where to get the uniforms and school supplies." Bones said. It was obvious that the more he listed the things we needed to buy for school the more worried he got over the money issue. So did I. But it was also obvious the I was the only one who noticed since Anita, Sonny, Fudge, and Danny had already started to walk away. Bones and I followed behind.

"Maybe we could get jobs." I said quietly to Bones.

"Yeah, that would probably work." he said, thinking it over. "But aren't we a year under the legal age?"

"So? I'm sure we could find someone willing to hire us." I said, staring at my shoes again. Ok, so it was a long shot, but we were out of options.

"Why do you do that?" Bones asked.

"Do what?" I asked him in response.

"Stare at your shoes all the time." he explained.

I shrugged. "I don't know. I just feel more secure this way. I can hear anyone coming and I am noticed less." I couldn't believe I had said that. I wouldn't have told anyone else in the crew that. Saying stuff like that is exactly why speaking is not a good thing for me.

"Why don't you want anyone to notice you? If you want to know, the crew's noticed you by your strength since we left the Institution. And I've noticed you ever since the whitecoats put your cage next to mine." Bones said.

"Because, sometimes it's just too much. Especially since Jacob left. I'm expected to be strong, and to have a plan, but sometimes it's hard, you know?" I said.

"Hey, it's ok." Bones said, "I'll always be here for you." I was so glad that the crew was walking faster, and therefore out of hearing range. This conversation would bring a lot of questions that I'm not prepared to answer.

"Thanks." I said. I really had to work on the whole leadership stuff. I needed to become more confident in my role as leader. Not as easy as it sounds.

After we walked another thirty minutes or so, I saw a building that stood out from the others. It was made of cement and was very plain looking. Around it were three other buildings. The main one had a sign that said: **LEARNING INSTITUTION'S MAIN BUILDING. **The other three read: **LEARNING INSTITUTION'S ELEMETARY SCHOOL, LEARNING INSTITUTION'S MIDDLE SCHOOL, **and, **LEARNING INSTITUTION'S HIGH SCHOOL. **

Seeing the word _Institution _everyone froze. I saw Anita take several deep breaths trying not to completely break down, Sonny was staring wide-eyed and slack-jawed, Fudge was frozen with a look of utter horror on her face, Danny was tense sensing the fear in the air, Bones was wide-eyed, and I had blanked my face. I took a deep breath.

"Look guys, it's a _learning _institution, not _the _Institution." I said, trying to keep everyone calm.

"Right." Bones said, catching on, "It's not actually _the _institution. There are no freaky evil whitecoats on there." but it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself that.

"Let's go." I said, and started walking towards the building, the crew following hesitantly. My first instinct was to run like hell, but I had told the crew we would see how school goes. Right. No biggie, all I had to do was go into the place that had a name that's been haunting my nightmares for years.

Once we entered the main building, there was a front desk, and two hallways. One was labeled, **TEACHERS, **the other, **ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE. **At the desk was a lady who had a pointy nose and a long neck. Her glasses were hanging on the bridge of her nose and she had a name tag that said: _Tracy Lindel. _I walked up to her and said, "We'd like to enroll at your school."

"Where's your parents, kid?" she asked in a very scratchy voice.

"Anita." I said. Anita stepped up and looked the lady in the eye...

So, fifteen minutes later, Bones, Danny and I were going to the high school, Fudge, Anita, and Sonny were going to the elementary school. I won't go into details as to what happened in the office, but let's say it involved mind control, and a lot of lying. We started school in two days.

After we enrolled, we went to the mall. We had to find a...uniform. A uniform that made the girls wear pleated khaki skirts, white button down blouses, and white ballet flats. EW. So much white. So much girly. I'm not above acting like a girl by wearing a skirt or dress every know and again, because hey, I am a girl, but really? That was over doing it. And I'd have to wear 5 days a week for 8 hours, so, forty hours a week! The guys have to wear khaki pants and long sleeved button down shirts with black loafers. EW. Since when did _every _guy have to be preppy looking? I mean, that uniform doesn't show all they different types of people there are. _Sigh. _I should not have agreed to this.

I was looking in a three way mirror outside of the fitting room, looking at myself in my uniform before I bought it. Fudge and Anita had cornered Sonny and were trying to help him find clothes, while Bones and Danny were looking around the store. I looked ok, in the uniform, but it just wasn't _me. _I mean, I've never seen myself wearing something like that. Then Bones came up behind me, dressed in his uniform. "I like it." he said, looking at me.

"I don't." I said.

"Why not?" Bones asked.

"Because it's not me. It's too bright. Like it's bright as a light that's shining on me." I answered.

"I think it makes you look cute." Bones said, absently buttoning the collar of his shirt. Then he froze and said, "I mean, like, you know...I'll be over there." before he quickly walked away, his face fire engine red.

So I looked cute? Was that a good thing or a bad thing? I mean, I didn't feel right in this uniform, but is that just because I'm in it? Although, I didn't think it looked any better on the rack. Whatever, it didn't make a difference, I still had to wear it anyway.

After everyone had a uniform, we went back to the hotel. "Silver, can I talk to you for a second?" Max asked.

"Um, sure." I said. We walked out into the hall.

"I blame you." Max said.

"For what?" I asked.

"You had to tell my flock that your crew was going to go to school, now they're asking me to let them go." Max said.

"And?" I asked.

"And, I don't think it's a good idea!" Max said.

"How is this my fault?" I asked.

"Because you put the idea in their heads!" Max said.

"Whatever." I said, and walked back into the room, leaving an angry Max standing in the hall.

_You're girlfriend keeps giving me the evil eye._

_**She just doesn't trust easily. **_Fang answered.

_She doesn't seem to have a problem with Bones. _I thought back. When Max had come into the room, she and Bones started talking about who knows what, but they looked like they were getting along pretty well. _Some _would say too well.

_**You jealous? **_

_Please. Like I would ever be jealous of max._

_**Hey, you should be.**_

_Why?_

_**Because she's dating me, duh.**_

_Haha. _

_**Is there something going on between you two?**_

_I don't know. _I went to sit next to Fang.

_**Do you have a thing for him?**_

_A thing? What the hell does that mean?_

_**Do you like him?**_

_Maybe. I don't know. I might. I mean, he's the only person that accepts and understands me. He always has my back no matter how crazy my plans are. He helps me stay cool, calm, and collected when the leadership thing becomes too much. He looks hot in anything, even the horrible school uniform. He's the sweetest guy I know, without being a sissy. He's strong, but gentle. He tries to help, but doesn't push you to do something you don't want to do. Like when we first got out of the Institution, he told me I should learn to fly better, since my flying was still kinda crooked, but I was afraid, and he never brought up the subject again until I asked him to teach me. His voice used to be the last thing I heard at the Institution when he whispered "Good Night, Sil." to me, and it always made me feel as if the day was a smidge less horrible than it actually was. His red eyes are absolutely gorgeous. One of the whitecoats called him a horrible monster because of the red eyes, and Anita was afraid of him when she first met him at age two because of his eyes, but I've always thought they were more beautiful than the rarest rubies. His black hair is really soft, and it just makes you want to run your fingers through it. He listens to me when no one else even notices I have something to say. He never gets frustrated over the fact that I prefer not to talk a lot, he just nods and continues the conversation He-_

_**Ok! I shouldn't have asked. It's obvious that you're completely in love with him.**_

_Am not!_

_**You just thought a novel about his eyes. I think you like him.**_

_I don't like him!_

_**Yes you do. **_That was from Anita.

_Anita, who called you into this conversation?_

_**You did when you wouldn't stop talking about how hot Bones is.**_

_You'd better not say anything._

_**I don't have to. He already knows.**_

_What do you mean?_

_**I mean, I've been practicing creating a link between two minds.**_

_You. Did. Not._

_**Maybe...**_

Well, this was horrible. I thought some things that are better left in my head, and now Bones may or may not know about it? I glanced over at him. Max was still talking to him, but he was looking at me, and when our eyes met, he blushed, and looked away. _Damn. It._

So he had heard. Well it never happened. What never happened? Oh, yeah, Silver Moon, pro pretender. I never thought those things, and they'd never be brought up in conversation. EVER. That must have been the most mortifying conversation of my life. Ah! But maybe Bones didn't believe Anita when she made the link. Unless, it was my voice. Do thoughts sound like the voice of the person who thought them? I hope not.

I glared at Fang before getting up, and going to talk to Fudge and Nudge about how to apply make up. Fun! Not. But I was so not going to interrupt Bones and _Max. _He probably liked her more than me now since I made a complete fool of myself. Just the thought made me feel as if something had punched my chest, and my vision narrow. I returned my attention to Fudge and Nudge.

"So, Silver, I think that it's better to apply eyeliner before mascara, but Nudge says you should put mascara before eyeliner. What do you think?" Fudge asked.

"I don't think you should put any of it on." I answered.

"Silver, you and Max are just alike. She doesn't think make up is worth the time either. No matter how much Angel and I try to get her to wear something." Nudge said.

"Don't compare me to Max!" I snapped before I could stop myself. Nudge and Fudge both looked at me like I'd grown an extra head. "Sorry. I'm...just gonna go and...um..." I got up and walked out of the hotel room. What was wrong with me? Why did I freak out over being compared to Max?

_**Because you're jealous that Bones is talking to her so much, and looked away from you and to her. You're afraid she replaced you.**_

_Fang! Shut up! That's not the reason! _

_**It is. But if it's any consolation, I think Bones still likes you as much as before Max.**_

_What makes you think that?_

_**Because if he started making googly eyes at Max I'd have to take evasive action.**_

I had to laugh. Fang was threatening Bones? Bones wasn't stupid enough to make _obvious _google eyes at a girl who had a boyfriend. On the sly though...anything can happen.

Whatever. I didn't like Bones, right? So I don't care. I don't.

_Dear Diary, _

_Bones is talking to Max right now as I write this. I wish he would just tell me what he wants! First, he kisses me, then makes me mad at him. Then, he acts sweet and calls me cute, before completely replacing me with Max! Did you hear that? Of course you can't, you don't have ears. Bones just said "Goodnight, Max." before going to sleep! He always tells me goodnight! I always say goodnight to the rest of the crew (who are asleep) but Bones has always been the only one there to tel me goodnight. He's done it every night since I've known him. He hasn't even looked at me since Anita told him all my thoughts. I need to write about something else, because this topic is really depressing me. _

_School is in two days. Whoo. Just another place for Bones to avoid me. I'm going to sleep now, because if I keep writing about this, I'm going to cry, and I will NOT stoop to that level._

_-Keep breathing,_

_Silver_


	7. I Hate You

Today was our first day of school. I woke up to find Nudge and Fudge squealing in a corner. They had become good friends since Max's flock came. "What are you guys freaking out over?" I asked.

"Oh, Sil, you won't believe this!" Fudge said excitedly.

"Are you lying to me?" I asked, one eyebrow raised.

"No." Fudge said, seeming taken aback and confused.

"Then I'll believe you. What's up?" I asked.

"Nudge and the rest of her flock get to go to school with us too!" Fudge said excitedly.

"Oh. Joy." I said.

"You don't sound excited." Fudge said.

"Of course I'm excited." I answered.

"Didn't you say she doesn't normally say how she's feeling?" Nudge pointed out.

"Oh yeah." Fudge said. "Silver?"

"What?"

"Can...can Nudge and I help you get ready for school?" Fudge asked.

"No way. I can get ready by myself." I answered.

"Yes, but not the _right _way." Nudge said.

"Yeah, and we'll get Angel and Anita to help us if we need to. There's force in numbers." Fudge said.

"Fine! Fine. Just, no make up." I answered.

"We make no promises." Fudge said with an evil grin. Then they both stepped closer to me, and closer, and closer, until I was in the bathroom.

Thirty minutes later I came out in my uniform. Along with some concealer, blush, eyeliner, and a little mascara. Too much? YES! Did it matter to Nudge and Fudge? NO!

When I walked out of the bathroom, all conversation stopped and everyone looked at me. Cue disappearing act.

"Come on, Silver, let us see what Fudge and Nudge did to you." Bones said.

I sighed and became visible again. "Wow Silver, you look really pretty!" Anita said.

"Yeah, Silver, you clean up nicely." Danny commented. Anita had sent him a picture of what I looked like to his mind.

"Not bad." Fang said.

"See Silver! You look good! If only Max were as...cooperative." Nudge said.

I glared at them before I walked to a corner of the room and sat in a chair. Did you notice that Bones didn't say anything? I did. He talked with _Max _the whole time. You know what? I. Don't. Care. I don't! At all! Bones can go jump off a cliff, and I wouldn't care!

_**You wouldn't care because he'd have wings and could catch himself.**_

_Fang! Would you stop that._

_**Nah. It's fun.**_

_Not for me it isn't. Bones keeps ignoring me more and more. And instead, he's talking to Max more and more. _

_**Why don't you just tell him you like him?**_

_BECAUSE I DON'T! _

_**You tell yourself that.**_

This is ridiculous. The only reason I was upset over Bones ignoring me is because he needs to focus on the crew, not Max's pretty brown eyes!

So, I went to school in a bad mood. Did I mention it was a bad mood? Yeah.

"Ok." said the lady who was supposed to show us to our classes after she had dropped Anita, Angel, Sonny, Gazzy, Fudge, and Nudge off at their classes. "You guys will be here." And me, Max, Bones, Fang, Iggy, and Danny walked into a classroom full of other people. Who all looked up at us as we walked in. It took all my will power not to fade out then and there.

"Mr. Carcass? These are your new students." the lady said. I didn't take the time to learn her name. But something other than the lady's name drew my attention. Carcass? Isn't that what you call the body of a dead animal? Who has a name like that?

"Aw, thank you, Ms. Hunna." the teacher said, turning around. Oh, someone like _that. _Ok, I hated Mr. Carcass on the spot. His hair was thinning, his teeth were crooked, he had beady little eyes, and he sent the vibes of the kind of person that makes you wonder why they ever became a teacher. Ms. Hunna left.

"Ok, you kids, to the back of the classroom. Your late." Mr. Carcass said as soon as Ms. Hunna left.

"Late? We didn't even know we'd be in this class until about two minutes ago!" Max protested.

"Too bad. No favoritism. You six in the back."

We all shuffled to the back. People were staring at us. I noticed that many guys were staring at me. Good or bad? No idea. _But _I also noticed that many girls were staring at Bones. I already hated more than half my classmates. What a good start.

Mr. Carcass' class ended up being biology. Then there was math, algebra, and history before lunch. At lunch me, Danny, Iggy, Bones, Max, and Fang sat at the same table. The school had given us the same schedules so we wouldn't feel lonely. How thoughtful. Cue sarcasm.

"Algebra was killer." Iggy said.

"I know. How are we supposed to know that A² + B² = C²? That still doesn't make sense to me." Max said.

"You understood it, didn't you Sil?" Bones asked.

"Um...yes." I answered.

"How?" Fang asked. You barely tell, but there was a hint of confusion and awe in his voice.

"She's always been like that. Surfing the internet for more than the latest shopping crazes, and reading books about things other than fairy princesses." Danny answered.

"I especially like math." I added.

"Impressive." Iggy said. "You have to tutor me sometime because I think the only question I got right on that math sheet was NAME HERE." I laughed, and I saw Bones look at me in confusion. It was rare that anyone but him or Danny got me to laugh. Especially someone I rarely knew. I ignored his questioning look. He was allowed to have new friends without apparent reason, and I couldn't? Too bad for him 'cause that didn't fly with me.

All of a sudden a preppy red head sat next to us. "Hey Bones! Fang!" she said, completely ignoring the rest of us. "So, Fang, wanna go out?" she asked.

"I have a girlfriend." Fang answered simply.

"So back off." Max said harshly.

"O key-dokey." she said, before turning to Bones. "What about you? Wanna go out?"

"What's your name anyway?" I asked. Normally I didn't speak unless spoken to, but this girl had stepped on a nerve. Which one? I don't know, but I felt it.

She looked at me as if she just realized I was there. "Lissa." she said, before looking at Bones eagerly. "So, what do you say?" she asked.

"Um, I guess?" Bones said it like a question.

"Cool! See you tomorrow. Five o' clock. Cafe outside of the mall." then she bounced back to her friends.

"What was that about?" Bones said, almost to himself.

"What? You don't like girls throwing themselves at you? Could've fooled me." I said icily.

"Silver, is something wrong?" Danny asked.

"Nothing. Nothing at all." I replied. "I'm just going to go to the library."

I left.

**Third person POV with M,F,B,D, and I**

"Does she always do that?" Iggy asked once Silver had left.

"No. I don't know what's going on with her." Bones said.

"Isn't it obvious? She likes you, and you pissed her off by saying yes to that Lissa person." Fang said.

"What? No she doesn't. I've kissed her only once, but she never showed any sign of liking me other than as a friend." Bones said.

"Dude, are you the blind one here?" Danny said. "She totally likes you. Not me. Plus, I've realized that I don't like her like that. The kiss was a fluke."

"You kissed her?" Max asked.

"Yeah. Total experiment." Danny said.

"The point is that Silver doesn't like me." Bones said. "She never has, and she never will, and I'll just be deluding myself if I think any different. So why not go out with this Lissa person?" Bones said.

"You're trying to make her jealous" Iggy said, a smirk forming on his lips.  
"Am not." Bones said.

"You know, I think it'll work." Danny said.

"Yeah, she's been pretty jealous over how much time you've been spending with Max. And Max has a boyfriend, think about if you went out with a free girl." Fang said.

"She has not." Bones disagreed.

"Oh yeah. And two days ago? You totally messed her up when you said goodnight to Max, and not her." Fang added.

"Oh my god. I didn't mean to do that." Bones said.

"Hey, what was your reaction to what Anita made you hear from Silver's head?" Fang asked.

"What did Anita make him hear?" Max asked.

"Oh, Silver was going on and on about how hot Bones is, how gorgeous his eyes are, how much she loved the sound of his voice and so on." Fang answered.

"Bones! How could you have said yes to that girl knowing that Silver thought that way about you?" Max asked, almost angrily.

"Because. Anita also let me hear when Silver totally denied liking me. Silver's one to hide her feelings, but not outright lie about them." Bones said.

"Dude, you are blinder than Danny or I." Iggy said. "She may not _normally _lie, but I think she's fallen bad for you, and still hasn't admitted it to herself."

"That was deep, Ig, but also untrue." Bones said.

"You guys are in such denial I think the world's started spinning backwards." Max commented.

"I'm in no denial. I like her. But she doesn't like me back." Bones said.

"Bones, I never knew you could be so daft." Danny said.

"Daft. What a big word Dan." Fang said.

"Yeah, been working on my vocabulary to impress the ladies." Danny said.

"Getting her jealous.." Iggy muttered. "Bones, you will totally have her in your arms by the end of the week."

"I'm not trying to make her jealous!" Bones nearly shouted. "Although," he said, "do you think it would work?"

"Definitely." Danny said.

"You guys are horrible. You shouldn't play with Silver's feelings like that. You didn't hear her thoughts these past few days." Fang said.

"I think it would work." Max added.

"Then it's settled. Operation hook up Bones and Silver is a go." Iggy said.

**Silver POV**

I hate Bones.

I hate Bones.

I hate Bones.

I stalked into the library angrily. I was tired of lying to myself. It was true. I like _liked _Bones. But he was going out with someone named Lissa! The bitch. And Bones..._grrr. _That's the only word I can think of and I've studied an SAT vocabulary book! I sat down at a table, and stared blankly at the tabletop.

"Hey. What are you looking at?" a male voice said from beside me.

I turned my head to look at him. "Nothing." He had bright green eyes, messy blonde hair, a slim but not weak build, and straight white teeth. He was barbie doll perfect and cute. Ew.

"So, I saw you in biology. My name's Daniel. Yours?" the guy-Daniel said.

"Um, Silver." I answered.

"Well, Silver, why are you sitting here so mad-looking?" he asked me.

"Because this guy that I like is going out with another girl and the worst part is that he liked me first, but I didn't like him, and now that I do, he's going out with someone else. She's a bitch and he's so..._grrr_!" Wow. I normally didn't get that worked up. But gosh dammit! I was...mad, sad, upset, and...lonely. I knew ten other people besides Bones, but I felt lonelier than I have in years.

"How about you meet me for a sandwich this afternoon at the deli by the library, and I'll take your mind off him?" Daniel asked.

"Fine!" I said before I had decided to even answer him. He had said "Cool." and left before I could process what I had said. I _think _I just agreed to a date. With someone I just met. Who wasn't Bones, or in anyway someone I would have ever gone out with originally. Someone slap me, I think I've gone insane.

So, in my last class of the day-science-I sat next to Bones. "Bones?" I asked.

"Yeah?" he answered, not even looking at me. I. Hate. Him. Just thought I'd throw that in there again.

"This afternoon you're in charge of the crew. I have a date." I answered casually, as if I wasn't freaking out over it.

"You? Have a date?" Bones asked, something flashing in his eyes. It went away before I could place where it was from.

"Yes. I think today's a good day since you have a date tomorrow, that way the crew won't be alone." I answered.

"Right. Ok. Good thinking." Bones replied before he went back to ignoring me. I. Hate. Him.

So, that's why, two hours later, I was at a deli hoping not to end up standing there alone and by myself, looking like an idiot. As I waited, I thought. Going out with Daniel might actually have been a better idea than I thought. I mean, just because Bones had moved on, and was dating someone else after making me like him didn't mean that I had to be like one of those stupid girls you read about in books who completely mopes around over the guy. Bones is just that: a stupid guy. There's nothing he has, that Daniel doesn't. Except for the eyes...and the wings...and the hair that- ok, stop. This is ridiculous. I don't need to think about anything. So instead, I turned my brain off for once, and stood there.

"You came." Daniel said, smiling, seeming genuinely glad that I showed up.

"I said I would, didn't I?" I said sarcastically. Ok, so, maybe I was trying to date someone, but sarcasm still was, and always will be my favorite type of conversation. Bones and I used to have sarcasm contests back at the Institution. No. Forget Bones, Silver.

"You did." Daniel replied. We sat at a table and Daniel ordered a tuna-ew-sandwhich with a side of lays potato chips, and I ordered a turkey sandwich on wheat bread with sun chips. "Do sun chips even have flavor? They look very...plain." Daniel asked.

"Of course. They're like the best chip on the planet." I answered.

"If you say so." Daniel said, but it was obvious he didn't believe me. Bones and I used to have arguments over potato chips all the time. _Before _he decided to be a j-e-r-k.

Our sandwiches came, and Daniel looked at me. "So, who was this guy?" he asked.

"His name was Bones. We used to be best friends, but lately we've been...distant from each other. I don't even know why. He's just been ignoring me." I answered.

"How could he ignore you? You are impossible to ignore." Daniel answered.

"Not really. He makes it look easy." I answered.

"Well, it's his loss and my gain then, huh?" Daniel said. Ok, so that made me smile, but...ok, so I really liked him. At least _Daniel _wasn't ignoring me. Like _some _people.

**Third person POV back at the hotel: **

Sonny, Gazzy, Nudge, Fudge, Angel, and Anita were on the other side of the room, playing gold fish. Fang, Iggy, Max, and Danny were on the other side, trying to convince Bones that it wasn't the end of the world.

"Bones, you'll be fine. I mean, Silver probably doesn't even like this guy, and is trying to make you jealous" Danny said encouragingly.

"Oh yeah? Fang what did you hear?" Bones asked.

"Um. Well, she believes that you actually like Lissa, and she's been trying to convince herself all say that you're not worth any of her time and trouble, and not to be some pathetic girl who freaks out because her best friend gets a girlfriend." Fang answered.

"Seriously? Told you guys. It would never work. Silver now thinks that I don't like her at all. Maybe I should just go tell her the truth." Bones said as he started to stand up.

"No way, dude." Iggy said. "You can't do that."

"Why not?" Bones asked.

"'Cause Silver will just be pissed because you were messing with her mind, and then she _really _will hate you." Iggy explained.  
"You guys are over thinking this. Go up to Silver. Kiss her, confess your love for her, and move on with your life." Max said. As if it were that simple.  
"It's not that simple! Silver can be very reasonable, but she's also the most stubborn person I know. Add that to the fact that she doesn't know how absolutely _beautiful _she is, and she'll never believe me. She'd just think that I was trying to trick her." Bones said.

"Beautiful? Dude, you have it bad. What's worse is that you're probably right." Danny said.

"She likes you dude. She's up to her ears in jealousy, but she keeps shoving it down, and not facing it. She's trying to convenience herself that she doesn't like you. All we have to do is get her to admit it to herself, and every puzzle piece will fall into place." Fang said.

"That was deep dude." Iggy said.

"Why does everyone keep saying 'dude'?" Max asked.

"Because dude is a manly word." Danny replied.

"Guys! You are not helping! Maybe I should just give up! Silver is never going to like me back, and I need to get over it. Maybe actually date Lissa." Bones said.

Fang shook his head. He knew from Silver's thoughts that both of them were completely over reacting. Silver was crazy about Bones, and vise versa, but both of them were too thickheaded to see it. "Ok, do what you want. But know this: I'll try to help you dude, but that's all I can do, and if you refuse to believe me, then I can't help you."

"I'm just...I'm going to go for a fly." Bones said. He left.

**Silver's POV:**

One thing about Daniel: he's nice, and stuff, but, god is he _boring. _I mean, we talked for a whole twenty minutes about football and who we think is going to win the Superbowl. I just did eeny meeny miney moe in my head and then just told him something. What do I care what a bunch of oversized ballerinas are going to do? I mean, it's not like they contribute a lot to society. Then we talked about math and algebra. Ok, that was fun, but then _he _got bored, and turned it back to sports. Now we were talking about tennis.

"I think Venus and Serena are the best players ever." Daniel said.

"No, you just think they look hot." I said. Daniel was also a little shallow.

"Maybe so, but you have to admit, they have a killer serve." Daniel said. '

"Ok..." I said. I had no idea what a serve was. Honestly, I didn't care either. So, it wasn't a perfect date, but I mean, it wasn't horrible.

"I had a really good time. We'll have to do this again sometime." Daniel said once we had finished eating and were outside the deli.

"Yeah. Sure." I said, then I left, not giving him a second glance. But I wasn't out of hearing range when I heard footsteps in his direction, and the voice of someone that I think was named Toby, or Tommy, or something. "Dude, you did great! She totally bought that!"

"I know right? Like I would ever ask someone like _Silver Moon _out. I can't believe you dared me to. I mean, please, she kept trying to talk about school. Who doesn't like to talk about football?" Daniel's voice said.

"I know, right man?" his friend said.

Great. I was a _dare _I really wanted to go back and kick his sorry butt, but I had other important things to take care of. Like the fact that it was seven o' clock, and I hadn't seem the crew since that morning.

I walked back to the hotel, and when I entered, Fudge and Nudge advanced on me. "OMG! I heard you were on a date! How was it?" Fudge asked.

"A date? No, it was a _dare._"I said angrily. Just because I hadn't grown particularly attached to Daniel didn't mean that I wasn't mad.

"What do you mean, Silver?" Nudge asked me.

"Daniel asked me out on a dare. I heard him and his friend talking." I answered.

"Oh, my god, the jerk!" Fudge said.

"Are you ok, Sil?" Anita asked.

I walked over to the loveseat and sat down next to Sonny. "I'm fine. Totally planning on a way to kick his butt inconspicuously, but fine." I answered. I counted my crew. 1, 2, 3, 4...where was Bones?

"Hey, guys, where'd Bones go?" I asked.

"Oh, he just went for a fly." Fang said.

I nodded. "Ok. Well, then we ne-" but I was interrupted by a boom, some screaming, a flashing light, and then silence.

"REPORT!" Max called out.

"Fine!" Nudge said.

"I think I have a splinter, but I'm fine." Iggy said.

"Fine." was repeated by Angel and Gazzy.

"Fang?" Max called out.

No answer.

I was under some drywall that had fallen, and coughing, I yelled, "Crew! Answer!"

"I'm fine!" were said everywhere. Bones wasn't there of course, so I had no idea where he was, and that was scary. Very scary, but I showed nothing as I walked over to Max and asked her, "Did you hear from Fang?"

"No." she said. "Everybody, search the debris!"

"You heard her!" I told my crew and everyone started looking through the mess. Gazzy found the remains of a bomb, and the roof had completely caved in. But there was no Fang.

"We have to find him. We have to find him..." Max was muttering to herself.

"Max...there's nothing here." Angel said gently.

"You!" Max said suddenly, looking at me with wide, almost crazed, eyes. "You can hear his thoughts! Where. Is. He?"

"Um..." I listened.

_**Dammit. I can't see. Those stupid...I wonder what they're called. Maybe-**_

_Fang! Where are you?_

_**I don't know! There was a BOOM! And someone threw something over my head.**_

_But you're alive?_

_**Yeah.**_

_Good, 'cause Max if freaking out._

"He's alive. But he can't see where he is." I answered.

"Good. Keep tabs on his thoughts." Max said. "Everyone else, let's try to clean up a little until Silver gets us a lead."

I closed my eyes and I listened...

_**There was the sound of a sliding door. Fang felt someone being thrown in next to him. "Stay quiet!" said a gruff voice from across the...where ever he was. "This really sucks." came a voice from beside Fang. It sounded familiar...**_

I snapped my eyes opened. "What is it?" Max asked.

"Bones is with him." I said, my brain still trying to figure that out.

"What? Bones just went for a fly..." Danny said. "Silver, ask Fang to ask Bones what happened."

I nodded. _Fang, ask Bones how he got there._

"_**How'd you get here?" Fang asked.**_

"_**I was flying. Then something shot out in front of me. I tried to swerve, but it attacked me. Then we were both falling. Something was thrown over my head, and it smelled weird...next thing I know I'm being thrown in here." Bones answered.**_

_**There you go. **_

"He was flying, and then someone attacked him, knocked him out, and threw him somewhere. Somewhere where Fang is." I said.

"This. Has. To. Be. The. Crappiest. Day. Ever." Fudge said, and I was too busy thinking about where Bones could be to tell her not to swear.

"Then we have to leave." Max said.

"We're going with you." I said.

"No way. My flock works alone." Max said.

"No." I answered in such a bold tone I surprised myself. "Bones is with Fang. You want to fine Fang. We want to find Bones. We're going with you. You _need _us. Without me, you'll have no way to figure out where to start looking."

"She has a point Max." Iggy said.

"Fine." Max ground out, obviously upset by that fact. We all started to pack. Again.


	8. Grey

After we packed up a few things in backpacks, we started flying southeast. That was the only thing I was able to tell from Fang. Due to his 'internal compass', he knew they were headed southeast. So we headed southeast until Fang could give me an update. The scary part? The Institution is in the southeast. Fudge, Sonny, and Anita might not remember that fact. Danny might remember, but he hadn't said anything, and I was grateful for that, otherwise I'd have a crew frozen in midair with fear. Not the best thing to have you hope to avoid falling to your death. It was a quiet flight as everyone was in their thoughts. I could tell just by looking at Max that she was thinking of Fang. I was worried for Fang too, but for some reason, my worry for Bones was three times stronger. I had to get Bones back. Nobody in my crew was _**EVER**_ going back to the Institution as long as I was alive. My crew meant a lot to me, and I'd go to the ends of the earth to make sure they were happy, and the end of the universe to make sure they never went back to the Institution. I was also feeling guilty. The last time I saw Bones, I was walking angrily away from him because he said yes to a date with a girl. I didn't know why I was so mad, but I was now mad at myself because he never got to go on that date because he got kidnapped. It didn't matter to me anymore that I didn't like the girl on the spot. The fact was that Bones was a great guy, and should get to go out with girls. If I didn't get him back from the Institution, he would never get the chance.

_**Silver, your thoughts are depressing me.**_ Anita thought to me.

_Sorry. _I thought back. It happened sometimes. I would start to ramble in my head about what an awful person I am if I mess something up, or I'd go on and on about what I should have and shouldn't have done, but what always annoyed Anita the most was when I went directly to the most horrible conclusion, and blamed myself for it. (I think I should blame myself, but don't tell Anita that.)

I had to get a grip. We were going back to the place that held my worst fears. I had to be brave. Bones wasn't here to back me up, and I had to be strong, and figure out how to get him back or he'd never be able to back me up again.

These thoughts were true, but I was confused by all the feeling behind them. I mean, Bones kissing me was more than likely a fluke, a mistake, something to never be mentioned again, but that really didn't explain my reaction to it, or the way I felt at the thought of someone wanting to hurt Bones. (FYI: really pissed off, and totally ready to rip said person's head off.) I didn't understand it, and I hate not understanding something. It makes me feel useless and incompetent. But really, that's not the current problem was that Bones was more than likely going to the Institution. Oh, and Fang. Fang might be going there too.

After who knows how long-I wasn't keeping any kind of time-we decided it was best to make camp. We landed in a forest that might have been somewhere on the border of Arizona. We were flying slowly because we didn't want to fly to, say, Texas, only to find out that Bones and Fang were in Utah or something like that. "Who wants first watch?" Max asked.

"I'll take it." I volenteered. My crew had never had to watch anything, and I wanted them to get to sleep as much as they could. Max nodded, and everyone got ready for bed. But first, I called my crew over to the side of the campsite. "Ok guys, I know we're all scared, and worried, but we can do this. We have Max and her flock who have been great friends, and a great asset for us. But we also have Danny, who can hear a mouse breathing. Fudge, who can shock anything, Anita who can read the enemy's every move. Sonny who knows his way with knives better than anyone. Me, who's studied science and math, and even some phycology. We can do this. We can save Bones and Fang. We've broken out of the Institution with help before, and now we'll do it again."

"Silver's right." Danny agreed. "We all have skills that will come in handy when in a pinch. Max and her flock know combat, and we have Silver's brains. We can do this." We all nodded, exchanged glances, then went to sleep. Or, everyone except me that is. Or, that's what I thought until I heard Max whisper to Iggy, "I'm going to tell Silver what exactly she's watching out for." and heard her come up behind me.

"So." she said.

"So." I replied, turning to face her, my ears still on sharp look out. I could tell by her stance that even though she was talking to me, she was paying a lot of attention to her surroundings.

"I know we started off on a rocky start." she started. I sighed.

"Yeah, sorry about acting...unfriendly." I answered.

"It's ok." Max answered, sitting next to me on the floor. "I tend to frustrate people easily. But, I also wanted to say sorry."

"For what?" I asked.

"For being jealous." she answered.

"You were jealous of..._me_?" I asked in disbelief. "Me? The girl who's eyes make babies cry, whereas you have really pretty brown eyes?" Ok, so I was jealous of her too. Shoot me.

"Yes. When you and Fang first met, it was obvious that you and he were so much alike. Then you gained the ability to read his thoughts. And he yours. You and him have a connection that I will never have, and I was jealous." Max explained.

"Yeah, well, Fang loves you Max. Being able to hear his thoughts, I can tell you, he thinks about you at least once every five seconds. Once, he was sitting in a corner, and all of a sudden, he thought 'Max always looks so hot sitting in a corner.'. It was the most random thing I'd ever heard since you weren't even in the room! But he loves you. And don't worry, I have no intrest in him other than as a friends." I said. She nodded, as if she had suspected, but my words comfirmed it, and put her worries to rest. "The truth is that I was jealous of you too." Normally I never voulenteered to share feelings, but I needed to say this. "You and Bones are so much alike, and he talks to you nonstop. Sure, he talks to me, but you talk back. I don't freely tell anyone what I'm feeling, Bones just knows. He's my best friend, and then you came along and he started talking to you more than to me. I knew you were with Fang, but still... What really hurt was when he told you goodnight, and completely forgot to say goodnight to me a couple of days ago." I was completely mortified to find that my eyes were teary. Dammit.

"You're upset because he didn't say goodnight? Why is that so important to you?" Max asked.

"Because while we were at the Institution it me, Danny, Fudge, Anita, and Sonny. I always made sure to tell them goodnight, and they would smile, and go to sleep. Nobody ever said goodnight back. I don't blame them either, if anyone ever heard us talking, we would be separated and the next few days of experimentation would be more rigourous that usual. Then they moved Bones next to me. Never in my life had anyone ever told me goodnight, actually wishing me a goodnight. The whitecoats would say something like 'have a good night freaks.' but it wasn't the same, and they didn't mean it. Then Bones came, and before I even opened my mouth, he said goodnight to me. It had never happened before and it meant a lot. So, that's how it's been since. No matter what, Bones and I always say goodnight to each other. That was the first time in years that he's forgotten." I answered. Maybe it was a little pathetic. Maybe I was overreacting. But really, I didn't care.

"Oh. I'm sorry Silver." Max said. I glanced at her, and she looked surprised at the words she had said. I guess she didn't say them often.

"It's fine." I answered.

"You know, Bones cares about you a lot Silver. You're his best friend." Max said. She looked like as if she were deciding to tell me something, but then shook her head to herself.

"Thanks." I answered. I never liked to really tell people my problems, I felt as if I was just annoying them or something. Bones was the only one who ever listened, so having Max listen meant a lot.

"Doesn't the rest of the crew ever say goodnight, or listen to you like Bones does?" Max asked.

I shook my head. "They don't mean not to, but, I don't exactly make it easy for them to talk to me either."

"'I didn't put up walls to keep people out. I put them up to see who cares enough to climb over them.'" Max quoted thoughtfully.

"But, we're still close, you know?" I added.

"Yeah, I know. It's a lot like that with my flock and I." Max answered.

"But them Bones went and agreed on a date with The Bitch." I added.

"The Bitch?" Max asked, confused.

"Lissa." I explained.

Max laughed. "Oh, my god. You've nicknamed her 'The Bitch'?" she asked.

"Yes." I replied matter of factly.

"I used to know a Lissa." Max said. "She kissed Fang, and I was insanely mad and jealous. I denied it of course, but the feelings were there. I nicknamed her 'the red-haired wonder'. The Bitch is a better name though." she said, chuckling.

"Yeah, I like it better too." I said, a slight smile on my face. Max was a good person when she wasn't being too arrogant.

"Ok, well, you know what to look for, it's kinda obvious. I just used that as an excuse." Max said, standing up. "You know, I'm actually glad we had this conversaion." she said.

"Yeah." I said, surprised at how much I actually meant it. "Me too." then she went to bed, and I continued to keep watch.

**Third person with Fang and Bones:**

Fang had no idea how long they had been traveling, but suddenly the thing came to a stop. He could hear their captors making camp. But there was another noise...a chattering?

"Bones? Are your teeth...chattering?" Fang asked Bones in disbelief. It couldn't be colder than seventy-five degrees.

"Uh-huh." Bones choked out through his shivers.

"Why are you so cold?" Fang asked.

"A-as p-part chameleaon, we g-g-get cold r-r-r-really easily." Bones answered.

"Here." Fang managed to shrug out of his jacket. It was only after he had done that that he realised that he had broken the rope on his hands. He tossed Bones his coat, and heard Bones' teeth stop clacking together as he put it on. Since the ropes were gone, Fang took off the thing that was over his head. He was in a dark room. Since they had been moving, he assumed it was a trailer of some sort. After untying his feet, he went over to Bones. Bones was curled in a corner of the trailer, snuggling into the jacket like it was a lifeline. Maybe it was. Fang had no idea what tempuratures Bones would withstand. He took the black bag that was over Bones head off, and Bones sat up straighter, and glared at whoever had taken off the bag. When he noticed it was Fang, he sighed, and said, "Thanks man."

"No problem." Fang said as he began to help Bones untie his feet and hands. "You can keep the jacket." Fang added. Bones nodded gratefully, then stood up.

"So, we've got to get out of here..." Fang murmmered, looking around.

Bones walked up to the door. It was made of metal. _Hm. _He thought. He really wished the door would just melt away, and let them go. He sighed, and laid his hand on the metal door. Next thing he knows, his hand is..._sinking _into the door. The door was melting.

"You never said you could do that." Fang said, coming up behind Bones.

"I didn't know I could." Bones said softly, focusing on his hand. It had turned a glowing red color, and as he drew his hand across the door, it just...melted away.

"Well, it came in handy." Fang said. Since they couldn't see through the door yet, they didn't know that there was an Eraser right outside of the door. And that Eraser shouted to his companions. "Hey! I think they're doing something to the door!" Suddenly, the door was swept open, and Fang and Bones were looking into the faces of two Erasers, and one Razen.

"Well, look what we have here. Remember me, Bones?" a Razen asked. Bones looked at him closely. He looked just like the others-green skin, fangs-but his eyes were...red.

"G-Grey?" Bones asked in disbelief. Grey had been his younger brother. When Bones was seven, they took Grey away, and moved him next to Silver. He had been really upset about it, but Silver helped him get through it. He never saw Grey again. Silver never told anybody, none of the crew knew, and Bones and Silver never said his name again. But here he was. Razenified.

"Yes. Did you forget about your dear old younger brother? Too busy drooling over that stupid Silver girl, probably. Did you ever think to wonder what had happened?" Grey said, hate lacing his words.

Bones couldn't understand what had happened to Grey. It was obvious that Grey hated him, but why? Bones had watched horrified as they took his brother away from him, unable to get out of his cage. "Yes. Everyday, I wondered what had become of you." Bones managed to reply quietly, still in shock.

"You're his brother?" Fang asked in disbelief in his voice.

"Oh, he didn't tell you?" Grey asked in a fake, sickly sweet voice. Even though it was fake, it sounded so much like his old voice that Bones wanted to cry. "He didn't tell you about how he overheard some whitecoats planning on changing one of us into a Razen to see how our body would react? He didn't tell you how he begged them to take me instead of him while he was out getting a full body exam?" there was a hint of betrayal in his voice that he was obviously trying to hide. "That he sold out his own brother?" Fang glanced at Bones. It didn't seem like him, but...well, Fang hadn't known Bones that long either.

"I didn't." Bones managed to choke out. "I heard them. I heard them, and I told them not to take you! They said, 'maybe we won't'. I was stupid enough to believe them, and after they took you I asked one of the whitecoats 'why? You said you wouldn't take him!' and he just laughed saying 'New experiment. How will the freak react when he knows that we've taken his baby brother to go and be turned into a Razen?' I'm sorry, Grey, I couldn't save you, I tried, I swear I tried!" tears were in Bones' eyes now, and he had to work hard not to break down.

Grey looked as if he wanted to believe him for a second. Then that second was gone. "Don't lie to me." he said coldly. "You betrayed me, and you will pay. I have knew brothers and I don't need you. Tie him up with some foil on his hands. If he tries to melt himself out, it will only reflect and burn him." then with a last glare, he was gone.

That snapped Bones and Fang to their senses, and they tried to go throught the Erasers, but they pushed them back in. Bones was still cold, and Fang hadn't had enough to eat, so they were weak, and it didn't take much for the Erasers to tie them back up. "Hey, let's take his coat. It'll be fun to see if he can survive the trip if we lower the tempurature to sixty-five degrees." one of the Erasers said, and he took Fang's coat from Bones before locking the door again.

"This sucks." Fang said, slumping against the wall of the room.

"Yeah." Bones said. He closed his eyes tightly, and tried to keep the tears in, but he couldn't. He had just saw his long lost brother. He felt like he had seen a ghost. The worst part was that Grey hated him, thought he would betray him. Grey had been the only thing keeping Bones alive when he was at the Institution. The only reason Bones had never thought about just giving up was because he had to stay alive to make sure Grey survived. When he was taken, Bones had thought about what it would take to get the whitecoats to just kill him. Bones could remember it with perfect clarity, as if it had just happened...

_Bones was seven, and Grey was five. They were in cages next to each other when the door opened. "Why hello, freaks." a whitecoat said. "Who do I get to take today..." the whitecoat looked down at his notes. "Ah, the small one. Hm, I think you're slated for Razenization." he said before walking over to Grey's cage and opening it. Grey had shrunk into a corner of his cage, and looked at Bones pleadingly. It was a look that said, 'You won't let him take me, will you?' But Bones was horrified, and couldn't find his voice. He watched as the whitecoat yanked Grey out of his cage, and dragged him by his hair out of the room. It was only after Grey's face, sad and scared, had turned the corner when Bones snapped. _

"_WHY?" he yelled, smashing against his cage. "WHY YOU BASTARDS?" he was only seven, and he'd never cussed before. He had tried not to, because he hadn't wanted Grey to pick up on bad words, and give the whitecoats another reason to tourture him. But Grey wasn't there anymore. _

_Bones could feel his world crashing. He could see his vision narrowing, and darkening. The last thing he heard was a strangled cry that could only have come from Grey._

_He had woken up in the same cage, but in a different place. He was in a white room, with nothing around him. He cried for about two hours before a whitecoat came in and took him to do some testing. _

_Bones' seven year old mind couldn't take it, and he shut down. He didn't speak, he didn't complain, he didn't do anything. He just went through everything robotically as he contemplated ways to get the whitecoats to end his misery. Every time he tried something, the whitecoats punished him, but no matter how close to death he got, he never died. The whitecoats liked playing with the suicidal seven year old. _

_About two months after Grey left, Bones was moved again. This time he was put next to a girl about his age. He was so emotionally low, that when she turned around and looked at him with her black eyes, he stared back sadly. "Hey, it'll be ok." she had said softy. He had no idea if she knew what had happened or not, but the fact that someone seemed to even _remotely _care made him cry again. The girl had introduced herself as Silver, and Bones fell in love with her that day, at seven years old. She became his reason for living. Every night he would watch her as she slept and vowed he'd never let anything happen to her. She had saved his life, even if she didn't know it._

_Slowly he started talking more, he came out of his depression, he smiled, he even laughed with Silver. Silver introduced him to her other friends, and Bones noticed that she seemed determined to keep their spirits up even if it was obviouly driving her crazy. That's how I'll help her. Bones realized. He started to help Silver keep everyone's spirits up, and she seemed to apprechate it. _

_When they were nine, Bones decieded to tell Silver about Grey. She promised never to tell anyone. That was the last time Bones ever spoke Grey's name._

Fang glanced at Bones. He was shivering, and curled in on himself while crying so quietly, Fang couldn't even hear him. He wanted to say something, but honestly, what could he say? There was nothing. Bones was crying.

_Crying? _Silver was listening? _I only just started listening again._

_**Yes. Something about someone named Grey.**_

_Fang, PLEASE tell him it's not his fault. Tell him that everything will be ok, and that I'm coming for him. Tell him, I'll see him soon, and not to give up._

Fang relayed the message to Bones, and Bones seemed to draw strength from Silver's thoughts. He stopped crying, and he sat up and looked over at Fang. "We should get some sleep." and then he turned around, and didn't speak again that night.

The next day, Fang and Bones were dragged into the Institution. At least, that's what Fang assumed they were since Bones had frozen when he saw it. When Fang asked him, Bones said nothing. He hadn't said anything since the night before. They were dragged in, and threw into cages.

Bones sat in the back of his cage, and stared ahead emotionlessly. More emotionlessly than Fang, and that was saying something. "Dude! Snap out of it! I know he was your brother, but it wasn't your fault! Do you think Silver would want you to blame yourself? I told you what she said yesterday." Fang finally snapped.

Bones sighed. "Maybe you and Silver are right."

"We are." Fang said.

"What is she doing now?" Bones asked. Fang concentrated.

"Sleeping. It's really early in the morning, about eight o' clock, and she took a lot of the night watch. She only went to sleep when Iggy got worried and forced her to go to sleep. She didn't want to waste time on sleep because she was thinking of plans to get us out. But when Iggy said she couldn't help anyone if she was asleep on her feet, she gave up and let him take watch." Fang said.

That made Bones smile. It sounded just like Silver.

**Silver's POV:**

We left around noon. I hadn't wanted to waste time, but Iggy told me I couldn't help Bones if I was too tired to think, so I went to sleep, and nobody had the sense to wake me up. Ok, they thought they were helping, but I didn't think so. Max was in the same frame of mind. Turns out that Angel convenced her to go to sleep last night, and when Max woke up at noon, at about the same time as me, she was really mad. Then she seemed to think, and visably calmed down as she came to the conclusion I had: they were just trying to help.

We put out the fire, put on our backpacks, and left. After listening last night, I was sure they were at the Institution, and that's where we were going.

Now, I know this is something you're been asking yourself: How can I hear Fang, when Anita and Angel can't? Well, Anita and Angel's powers are affected by distance, but it appears that my connection to Fang's mind isn't affected at all by distance. Now you know.

We flew until the building was in veiw. Now what? "Let's got down to those trees, and decide our plan of infiltration." I said. I got blank looks. I sighed. "Let's land and see how we're going to get in." Everyone nodded, and I saw irritaition flash in Max's eyes. It was obvious she didn't like being outsmarted, but whatever, she'd get over it. We landed. Bones, I'm coming.

**Third Person POV with Fang and Bones:**

Bones and Fang were woken up by a bang on the top of their cage. There was a blonde woman in a white labcoat looking at them with obvious distaste. "Hey, freak." she said talking to Fang. "You know what? I found out your secret." _Secret? _Fang wondered. What secret? Bones glanced at Fang, but Fang only shrugged. He had no idea what this crazy bat was talking about. "Yeah, I know about your twin sister." she said smugly. "You can't protect her anymore."

"Sister?" Fang asked. She must have him confused...

"Yeah. Experiment number 3022." she said, looking at her notes. Fang and Bones stared at he blankly. "Oh, right, you know her as...Silver Moon."


	9. Sitting Ducks

**Silver's POV:**

After we landed, we sat in a circle so we could all see each other clearly. It struck me then, how alike we all were. Angel and Anita could have been twins. Nudge and Fudge were so in sync, you almost couldn't tell them apart. Gazzy and Sonny were similar, and yet...different. Gazzy was a tad more reserved, had been through a little more than Sonny had. Danny and Iggy...were almost alike. They were both blind, but I really didn't know enough about Iggy to say how alike he was to Danny. Bones was a lot like Max. I was a lot like Fang, but I _tried _to be more like Max. I knew that since I had actually used the internet for more than just games, the crew expected me to know what I was doing. It was one of the other reasons I was jealous of Max. She was so confident. Or at least, she knew how to look confident. Everything about our separate groups were so different, but also greatly alike. Too alike...I stored that thought away in my head for later.

"You know this place the best of all of us. Draw it as best as you can in the dirt." Max said to me. I nodded. I knew the Institution like the back of my hand. I grabbed a stick, and talked as I drew.

"The front entrance is here. To the right of that is a hall. That's where they keep the experiments. In that hall, several other halls branch out. There's the hazardous experiments, the semi-normal ones, the ones that work, the faliures that are waiting to die, and the ones slated for extermination. There's another hallway, straight ahead of the entrance is where they do various experiments. Then theres a small security room." I said, drawing in the dirt.

Everyone looked at what I described. "I think we should just walk right up to the door. Once there, they capture us, then we escape with Bones and Fang." Iggy said.

"Ig, that's the _stupidest _thing I've ever heard! We'd be handing ourselves to them!" Max said, outraged.

"But maybe it's stupid enough to work." I said thoughtfully. "We get captured, and hope that they put us somewhere near Bones and Fang. Then with our knowledge of the facility, we plan an escape. Once we have a plan, we act, and if all goes right, we'll be out with Bones and Fang." I said. "They'd never think we'd actually get out. They're too arrogant for that."

"Do you guys hear yourselves? It'd be like handing our souls to the devil!" Danny almost shouted.

"We could split up." Max said suddenly, catching on to the idea. "Me, Silver, and Iggy get ourselves captured. Danny, Fudge, Nudge, Sonny, Gazzy, Angel, and Anita stay out here in case we can't find a way back out."

"Max, think about the last time the flock split up!" Gazzy said, obviously unhappy.

"But, we have more numbers now. Right now we have the help of Silver's crew. This is the _best _time to do anything remotely dangerous or risky because we know we'd have backup. And dangerous and risky might be the only way to save Bones and Fang." Max said, finally piecing together how this plan was supposed to work.

"Max...we can't split up. It never works. And, if both you _and _Silver go, then you'd take away both leaders from us. And with Bones and Fang gone, we wont even have our second in command." Angel said. "Unless you want to let me be in charge." she added, an eyebrow raised.

"No, that's ok, but thanks for the offer though, Angel." Max replied. It was obvious that comment had angered her, but she tried not to show it. Why though? Surely Angel was just kidding...

"Silver! You can't go!" Sonny cried, attaching himself to my hip. I sighed.

"Sonny, it'll be ok. I promise. Do I ever break a promise?" I asked, pulling him away from me so I could kneel down and look him in the eye.

"No..." he said quietly.

"Then I wont this time. Max, Iggy, and I will be back before you can even miss us." I said more confidently than I felt. Sonny nodded, and stepped away from me. I walked over to Danny.

"If we're not back in two weeks, somethings gone wrong. Do what you can to help us get out, but do _not _under _any _circumstances put the kids in too much danger." I whispered to him so quietly that only he could hear. He nodded.

So that was it. The plan was stupid, and dangerous, and completely crazy. But it was also crazy enough to work, something the whitecoats would never see coming because they see Max as the responsible leader that always thinks things through, and me as the girl that should be smart enough not to go through with something this crazy. The only question I still have in my mind is that because the whitecoats know this stuff about us, they could sense that we're up to something. And if they do that they might put us in a section of the Institution that Fang and Bones aren't making it all the harder to break them out. What surprises me most though, is that Max agreed to it. I think it might have been because she knew that there really was no plan that would involve someone _not _getting captured, and I don't think she wanted the kids to be at risk. She is a good leader. Note to self: Try to act a bit more like Max. You don't know how much I _hate _that note to myself.

It took us about thirty minutes to make sure that the people we were leaving behind had enough supplies to last them for a few days (I said two weeks, but honestly, who'd want to be in that slaughter house that long? I'm hoping to leave sooner.). "So, what, we just walk right up to the Institution?" Max asked.

"Seems too simple, doesn't it?" I said thoughtfully.

"Yes. That's exactly what we do. I have a good story put together. Just play along." Iggy said. We started walking towards the building.

If I haven't mentioned it, or it's not obvious: I. Hate. That godforsaken place! So, it took all my willpower to simply _walk towards _it. Think about this: walking towards the thing that scares you most in the world, unarmed, with two people you barely know. Sure, I 'trusted' Max and Iggy...to a very little point, but that didn't mean that walking with them made me feel a lot better about the situation.

We were ten feet from the front _gate _when two Razens, and what I can only guess is an Eraser, threw bags over our heads. It...it smelled weird. Sickly sweet. The last thing I heard was: _**Silver? What the-**_

before I was out.

_My head hurts like hell. Where am I? _Was the first thing I thought when I woke up. I had forgotten about Bones, Fang, the plan, the Institution, everything. Then it all came flooding back in crystal clear clarity, and I quickly tried to sit up, banging my head on the roof of...a dog cage. I panicked. Yeah, this was the plan, but I didn't expect to be thrown into it so suddenly. I figured we'd at least be conscious when I got to the horrid cage. I looked frantically around, my brain trying to figure out what was going on.

"Silver? Is that you?" Bones asked sleepily. He opened his eyes. I had no idea what time it was, but apparently, it was night time if Bones was asleep. "Holy crap. I'm dreaming." he said, banging his head against the bars of his cage. "Wake up Bones. Wake. Up."

"Bones! You're awake!" I took a second to look around. Max was on my right-still knocked out-Bones on my left, Fang on the other side of Max, and Iggy on the other side of Bones. They were all either knocked out, or asleep.

"I'm awake? You're really here? In this hellhole?" were...were his eyes teary? I couldn't tell if it was in relief, sadness, worry, anger, a mixture of them all, or if they were there at all.

"Yes." I answered.

"How?" he asked.

"The front gate." I said.

"You just freakin' _walked _in here?" Bones asked.

"Pretty much." I answered.

"How could you be so stupid? Why would you come back here?" he asked, almost shouting. This got me mad. Really mad.

I launched myself at the cage bars, imagining that I could just simply punch him. But the stupid bars kept me from putting my hands around his stupid neck. "You think I don't know how much of a risk this was? You think I'm that stupid? No, Bones, I'm not stupid. But, do you honestly think I'd leave you here? Or that Max and Iggy would leave Fang here? So sorry, I'm stupid enough to care Bones, really. Maybe next time we can just leave you here to rot while the crew and I continue our miserable lives outside these walls without you." I said angrily.

"You'd be miserable without me?" he asked, a cocky smiled on his face.

"Shut up, you idiot. Everyone would miss you." I said, calming down a little.

"Would you guys stop flirting so loudly? I'm trying to sleep!" Iggy called from his cage.

"We were not flirting! We were having an argument!" Bones called back, a slight flush heating his cheeks.

"Yeah, well, flirting, arguing, whatever you want to call it, shut up!" Man, Iggy's irritable, isn't he?

"Anyway. Another thing: you never told me you had a brother." Bones said, almost accusingly.

"Brother? I didn't tell you I had a brother because I _don't _have a brother." I said.

"So you didn't know?" Fang said this, having woken up.

"I didn't know _what _exactly?" I asked.

"That Fang's your twin brother." Bones said.

"How do you guys know that?" I asked.

"We heard a whitecoat say it." Fang said. "And it makes sense, doesn't it? We both wear black, we can read each others minds, we have the exact same black wings, and dark black hair. Even my eyes are almost black."

"Woah." Iggy said, startled, and tried to sit up only to hit his head on his cage. "Did you just say that Fang and Silver were brother and sister?"

"So it would appear." Max said, sleepily waking up.

"Guys this is creepy. I mean, the Crew and I have seen you guys all over the news, but now that we've actually met you, I've noticed that we are so much a like. Almost too alike. Or am I the only one who noticed that?" I said.

"She's right." Max said, "this is too coincidental not to be some kind of set up, or preplanned event."

"So, Itex really does have complete control of our lives?" Iggy asked quietly.

"Well, they made them." I said, just as quietly.

"Guys, snap out of it!" Bones said suddenly with a fiery passion in his voice I didn't think he was capable of. "This is what they want us to do! They want us to think we can't control our lives! They want us to doubt whether our every other decision is made by us or them. They want us to be so jumpy that we can't take three steps without worrying that it's a set up! But they don't control our lives. Because I know for a fact that they didn't control the fact that I'm in love with you, Silver."

Oh. My God. He'd said it. The words that will either haunt me or thrill me for the rest of my life. ...And cue awkward moment.

**Third Person POV:**

Danny was pacing back and forth, trying not to bump into anything. He was worried about everyone. Silver depended on him to keep track of everybody, but he couldn't see a damn thing! This fact normally didn't bother him so much, but with the chance that Iggy, Silver, Fang, and Max might not come out of Itex ever again, he was terrified that the leadership role would fall onto his shoulders, and he wasn't sure if he could handle that.

_Danny, you're a great leader. Sure, you aren't _the _leader, but maybe you could be if you got rid of this horrible attitude. _Anita thought to Danny.

_You know Silver will always be the leader._

_Yes. You know it, and I know it, but I don't think she really comprehends how important her solid, rational mind is to the Crew. Speaking of comprehending, what in the world did you think you were doing when you kissed her?_

_I was thinking: hey, you've never kissed a girl. Why not? Then I thought, it's time to experiment. Explosives can only take you so far in life. _Danny replied.

_Danny...do you think they'll make it out ok?_

_Of course, they're the best we have. If they don't make it out...actually, while Silver seems like she doesn't want to be spotted, I doubt she would let anyone keep her anywhere she doesn't want to be. And Bones? Please, if he was ever kept anywhere for longer than he was comfortable, I'd like to shake the hand of whoever accomplished that...if they were still alive. If Fang's anything like Silver then I think he won't be very easily kept either. And Max...well...she hits hard. I think that'll have something to do with it. _Danny answered.

_I hope you're right. _Anita answered, and then Danny's mind was just his own again.

"Danny, do you think we could take a nap?" Sonny asked, yawning. "We've been up for hours. It's dark, and Silver, Max, Fang, and Iggy are probably already asleep."

Danny sighed. It was tough decisions like this that he wasn't sure he was completely ready for. Eventually he nodded and said, "Yeah. Let's climb into the trees and get some shut eye. If tomorrow proves to be anything like today was, then it will be a long day."

It was like a bell had rung that snapped everyone out of their stupor of worrying, as they all climbed the nearby trees and tried to find a spot where they would rest without falling out in the middle of the night. They wouldn't get seriously hurt, what with being mutant freaks and all, but getting woken up with the middle of the night was something they all wanted to avoid.

Danny groaned as he opened his eyes. His head hurt. Not the killer, brain splattered against his skull headache he'd had before at the mall, but still a very painful one. He couldn't see his surroundings, but he knew he wasn't in the tree anymore, since the texture under his hands was not one of bark, but of something else entirely. It was smooth...hard...and flat. It was metal. His breathing started to get faster, reaching a hyperventilating level when he reached his hand up and felt a metal roof only a few inches above his head. He leaned forward to feel metal bars on all four sides of him. He was in a cage. Worse, he was in a cage and he couldn't remember how he'd gotten there. Worser still, he was in a cage and didn't know where the rest of the kids are.

_Relax, Danny, we're all here. _Anita thought to him.

_And where is here, exactly? _Danny asked.

"You're in the Institute." came another voice. A masculine voice that was shockingly familiar.

"Jacob?" Danny croaked out, his voice a little scratchy with the pieces of sleep that still clung to him.

"That's right son." Jacob said. "Sleeping in trees is not a good idea when people can just walk along the forest floor until you fall asleep, shoot some knockout gas up there for good measure, and then simply throw rocks at you until you fall out. All we needed to do afterwords was simply bag you. Keeping you unconcious until we got here was simple, really, with the help of our two resident mind readers, here."

Even though Danny couldn't see it, he knew exactly who he was talking about, and the realization sent a wave of shock through him, strong enough to be painful. "Anita?" he asked, disbelief coloring his tone.

"Angel?" came Gazzy's reaction somewhere from Danny's right.

"Yes." answered the combined voices of the blonde little girls.

"How could you, Angel?" Gazzy asked, sounding near tears.

"Well, it was simple really. Max isn't fit to lead you guys, and you would have ended up here anyway. I just sped up the process. And since you were going to end up here under her leadership, why drag myself down as well? At least this way I'm not going to be exterminated. I've been slated as useful for the information I provided." Angel answered.

"What about you, Anita? I thought you were with us." Danny said looking towards the direction that he had heard Angel's voice, hoping Anita was around there too.

"I was. But when Angel was talking to me, she was describing how Max leads and all the reasons why it would lead them to their doom, and I realized that it was a lot like how Bones and Silver lead. I didn't want to end up here again. When Angel and Jacob offered me a way out, I took it. No if's, and's, or but's." Anita answered, her tone so unregretful that it broke Danny's heart. He was sure he wasn't the only one when he heard gasps from whom he presumed to be Fudge and Sonny.

"Grey, Ari, carry them out to the others. I need to consult with Jeb on what exactly should be done." Jacob said, and there were the sounds of footsteps moving. Two sets moved towards Danny and the others, while one moved away. Danny couldn't tell where Anita and Angel were, if they'd moved at all.

Twenty minutes later, Danny and everyone else were loaded onto two carts. Normally Danny would have asked what took so long in his most sarcastic voice, however, after Anita's betrayal, he really couldn't muster up the will to think anything funny or sarcastic at the time.

"Get ready to meet up with the rest of your mutant friends." came a gravely voice from Danny's left.

"Last I heard, Grey, they were having a _very _interesting conversation. Something about how Itex doesn't control their lives." said a voice from Danny's right. There were two slight grunts, and then he was moving.

"What a load of crap." came the voice Danny assumed was Grey's.

"Yeah," agreed a voice that Danny managed to deduce was Ari's. "Itex has controlled their lives since the very beginning."

"Word on the street is that they were made at almost the same time. Actually, I heard that the girl with the black hair, and the other guy that looks emo are brother and sister. The girl's group was slated for termination. Jacob took them out to almost the middle of nowhere, and left them to die while Jeb cared for Max's flock." Grey said as if Danny and the rest of them weren't there. They were talking about how Danny's crew was, to put it simply, not as good or important as Max's flock, and therefore deserved to die, and they were acting as if they weren't there. "Apparently it didn't work, though, did it, you colored freaks?" he continued as he banged the top of Danny's cage, letting a loud ringing sound reverberate through the air.

Danny felt the cart turn, and the slight rise and fall of the cart passing through a doorway. Danny was surprised that they'd arrived at their destination since Grey and Ari seemed to enjoy taking forever on a job. He was more surprised, however, by what he heard as they entered, "...the fact that I'm in love with you, Silver." It was clearly Bones' voice, and the declaration threw Danny off. Him staying in control of anything centered on it staying the same. This was completely different from anything he had been expecting. However, it made him glad he'd decided to kiss Silver...

**Silver's POV:**

The silence was broken when the sound of wheels entered the room and we all turned our heads to see the rest of my crew and Max's flock enter the room. _How'd they find them? _Was my first thought, all shock of Bones' declaration of love leaving, and the whole incident moving to the far corners of my mind as I realized that the stakes have just more than doubled.

My face was pressed against the bars of the cage as I watched in complete dread as the Razen and the Eraser that walked in pushed my crew and Max's flock into the room. I felt something touch the hand that I had resting against the edge of the cage. I looked to my left and my eyes met Bones', his hand being what had touched mine. His eyes said, _Don't worry, we'll find a way out of this. _And I had no choice but to believe him since believing anything else is not the frame of mind that leads to brilliant plans and awesome escapes.

I turned back to face the door, and that's when Jacob, and another man whom I've never seen before walked in. "Ah, good, you're all here." said the man I couldn't recognize.

"What do you want Jeb?" Max asked. I looked at the man closer. Jeb. Now that I was paying attention, I vaguely recognized the face of the man who saved us, then dumped us on someone else, never coming back.

"Oh, Max, don't be like that. Just hear us out." Jeb said.

"We're listening." Fang said, the annoyance in his voice very plain.

"Let us tell you a story." Jacob started.

"About a group of twelve kids." Jeb continued.

"It was decided that six of the kids were inferior, too mutated, too much of freaks to be of any use to this company."

"So we took them away, and left them to die."

"While we worked with the better group."

"Eventually we had to leave them too, because we needed to see if they could survive on their own, if they were as superior as we thought they would be."

"The other group, however, continued to live, unknown to us for quite some time. Months, actually, much longer than we would have thought."

"So we've come to the decision that since neither of the groups of children will just simply die, we must use them to help us in our research."

"Because them breaching the information they contain would be catastrophic to Itex."

"And that would be, very, very bad." Jeb finished.

"You..._we _were inferior to them? Can they turn invisible whenever they want?" Sonny demanded, sounding quite angry.

I was angry too, though. It's hard being told you're basically nothing. That the person sitting next to you is worth more than you are simply because their eyes and wings aren't strange colors. Simply because when they're fully dressed, and they meet a kids eyes, that kid won't burst into tears. Or if they walk down the street without horrible, uncomfortable, colored contacts people will start to point and stare.

"_You _made us this way!" Danny shouted. Which was a great point. Why make freaks, if you don't want freaks? Because I wouldn't call Max and her flock freaks. They were close, but not close enough. They were like super humans. They had wings, and who wouldn't want to fly? But who wants scary red, black, yellow, or white eyes? What about purple or pink? People like those things for a little while, like during halloween. Not all their lives.

"Get over it, spongebob." the Razen said. I felt Bones' flinch at the sound of the Razen's voice, which was weird, since it wasn't like he hadn't seen or heard a Razen before, but I didn't have time to well on it since Jeb started talking again.

"This conversation is over. Tomorrow we start testing. It'll be just like old times." he said before he walked out, taking anyone who wasn't in a cage with him.

**[A/N]: Sorry it took so long guys. The only excuse I have is a lack of inspiration. **


End file.
